The Sacramento Kings fell 112-105 to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night in a particularly tough loss for Sacramento big man Domantas Sabonis.
Sabonis had a tough matchup with Thunder rookie sensation Chet Holmgren and was held to 8 points and 13 rebounds. That performance snapped his 61-game double-double streak, per StatMuse.
Sabonis owns the seventh-longest streak of double-doubles in NBA history. The Kings big man had just moved past Elvin Hayes’ stretch of 60 straight from Oct. 30, 1968, to Feb. 22, 1969, on Sunday in a win over the Brooklyn Nets. His streak was the longest since the NBA and ABA merged for the 1976-77 season. He broke Kevin Love’s mark of 53 straight since the merger last month.
Wilt Chamberlain owns the all-time record with 227 straight double-doubles.
The game was important to the Kings. They entered the night eighth in the Western Conference standings with a shot at avoiding the Play-In Tournament.
Despite blowing a 20-point lead to the Thunder, the Kings still have a shot at the 6th seed in the Western Conference playoffs. With three games left to play, Sacramento trails the seventh-seed Phoenix Suns by a single game in the standings. They currently sit two games behind the New Orleans Pelicans for the sixth seed, which would keep them out of the Play-In Tournament altogether.
On the flipside, the Kings lead the Los Angeles Lakers by a half-game and the Golden State Warriors by a single game for the ninth and tenth seeds, respectively.
The Kings have a great chance to gain some ground in the standings when they host the sixth-seed Pelicans on Thursday night.
Domantas Sabonis has been a machine for the Kings
Although he wasn't named an NBA All-Star this season, Sabonis has arguably been the best big man in the league this year due to the impact he brings on a night-to-night basis as a rebounder. After leading the league in rebounds last season, the 27-year-old Kings star is once again leading the league in rebounding, only this time averaging a career-high 13.6 boards per game.
By recording his 70th double-double earlier this month, Sabonis joined Truck Robinson, Kevin Garnett, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Moses Malone (five times) as the only players in league history to have at least 70 double-doubles in a season since the NBA/ABA merger.
What is even more impressive is that Sabonis recently joined Chamberlain as the only players in league history to have at least 1,000 rebounds and 600 assists in a single season. Chamberlain achieved this during the 1966-67 and 67-68 seasons. In that first season, the legend had 1,957 total rebounds and 630 assists. He followed up that season with 1,952 total rebounds and 702 assists the following year.
So far this year, Sabonis has racked up 1,087 rebounds and 651 assists for the Kings.
Follow Us
Subscribe