Facing an enormous challenge, the Sacramento Kings hosted the league-best Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday.
The Kings have a 5-0 record when Sleep Train Arena has more than 15,000 fans in attendance and the early results were good for the home team.
Sacramento opened up the game with a 23-9 run, but the Thunder stormed back early to trail 30-27 at the end of the first quarter.
The Kings had seven turnovers in the second quarter as the Thunder took control of the game with a 58-51 lead at the end of the first half.
The Thunder's domination continued as they outscored the Kings 28-16 in the third quarter as the turnovers continued to mount for the home team on their way to a 19-point deficit at the end of the quarter
Trailing by as much as 25 points, Sacramento couldn't get back into the game and were defeated by the Thunder by a score of 105-95.
Tyreke Evans scored a team-high 16 points for the Kings and frontcourt players DeMarcus Cousins and Jason Thompson had 14 points.
Russell Westbrook finished with 18 points and a season-high 14 assists and Kevin Durant had a game-high 24 points and 11 rebounds. Former King Kevin Martin also scored 24 points.
The Kings finished the game with more turnovers than assists in the game with 15 points and 18 turnovers.
Kings coach Keith Smart said even though his team started off hot, the Thunder put his team away in the third quarter:
When you have an early lead against a very, very good team, it's not going to last long. ... John Salmons did a decent job on Durant to kind of slow him down in the first half and I thought that was why we were able to stay close in the game — and then we had a bunch of turnovers and some quick shots late in that first half.
The Kings will leave tonight for a six-game road trip, their longest of the year. They'll play the Denver Nuggets in the Mile High City tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. PST.
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