Sabonis and the Kings continue their upward trend with a gutsy road win over the Pelicans originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Things are in full swing for the Kings.

With a few days of rest, Sacramento continued its winning streak on Thursday with a 111-109 win over the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center.

Powered by standout performances from Domantas Sabonis and DeMar DeRozan, the Kings, riding a three-game winning streak and winning four of their last five, are at .500 (13-13) for the first time since Nov. 22.

“We’re moving in the right direction,” DeRozan told NBC Sports California’s Kyle Draper. “We took care of the home game and went on the road after a few days break.

“It was a tough road trip to get here and get a win. Now we have a few days to regroup and prepare for the next game.”

Sacramento trailed 55-53 at halftime and had to come back in the second half.

DeRozan did just that, hitting four straight 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the third quarter. The experienced small forward finished the game with 29 points.

On the other hand, Sabonis kept his end of the bargain. The big man posted an impressive double-double after scoring a team-high 32 points and contributing 21 rebounds on 11 of 15 shooting from the field.

The star center, who Brown said was crucial to Thursday’s win, joins superstar centers Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid as the only NBA centers to record those numbers in a game since 2020.

“Obviously Domas was the guy who carried us most of the night and did the passed pawn’s job,” Brown told reporters. “Domas was incredible.

“Domas had 32 points and 21 rebounds in 34 minutes. That was phenomenal, phenomenal, phenomenal work from him.”

Sacramento is fighting to stay in the playoff conversation as it enters another three-day break before hosting the Denver Nuggets on December 16th.

Certainly Brown and Co. are hoping that the hockey stick effect doesn’t linger in New Orleans.

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