Kings 129, Bucks 118

Rudy Gay was determined to come out gunning with extra opportunities he’d be afforded in his starting center’s absence and it set the tone for the game.

“It was one of the things where ‘What else do you have to lose?’ ” Gay said. “I got to the foul line early and that’s how I got my rhythm”. In games without Boogie this season, the Kings were 0-5 (now 1-5). “They got our temperature and saw we didn’t want to play defence”. “That kind of shifted our focus”.

Despite the best efforts of Vasquez and the long-armed Henson, Milwaukee struggled to make a real dent in the fourth quarter. “We have players more than capable of playing defense and tonight we were able to put the two together”. Without their defensive anchor, the Kings turned up the pace and ran a young Bucks team off the court for a 129-118 victory on the road.

Bucks coach Jason Kidd’s ejection on Wednesday night.

With the Kings pulling away late and both teams walking back to sidelines for a timeout, Kidd became animated in a conversation with official Zach Zarba, then knocked the ball out of Zarba’s hand as the official appeared ready to T him up.

Kidd said he was sticking up for himself and protecting his players before he was tossed. Understanding that we felt that we were getting fouled and the whistle wasn’t being blown. Sacramento’s single-season record for triple-doubles is five – a record that Rondo will nearly certainly break.

Sacramento, who had lost three out of four coming into the game, including an overtime loss Monday night at Charlotte, scored 69 points in the first half but only held at a three-point lead.

Reports are out that the Sacramento Kings are keen on bringing back former National Basketball Association head coach John Calipari to the pro league as the team attempts to salvage a season marred by internal turmoil between George Karl and DeMarcus Cousins.

Rajon Rondo had 10 points and 13 assists and the bench was strong again with Omri Casspi scoring 19 points, Darren Collison scoring 18 and Marco Belinelli finishing with 17.