Hits and Flops: Sacramento Kings vs Detroit Pistons | NBA
The Pistons had just edged past a couple of teams (both wins by a five-point differential) when the Sacramento Kings came knocking at their doors at home.
Looking for their third straight win, the hosts put together an impressive show for three quarters, but the leakage in the final period of the game proved to be much. The Kings outscored the Pistons by 10 points in the fourth quarter and pulled through for a resilient 103-101 road win, outlined by Buddy Hield's buzzer-beater three-pointer.
The Kings have now won four of their last five games as they improve to 24-22 (0.522) on the season. Currently sitting at the 10th spot out West, they are still eight games below the Conference leaders, the Warriors.
With the Lakers ailing in LeBron James' absence, this might be just the right time to make a final push up the leaderboard as they clinch their 10th road win of the season.
On the other hand, the Pistons missed Andre Drummond badly as they suffered their sixth loss in the last ten games, now dropping to 20-25 (0.444) on the season.
They reside at the ninth place in the Eastern Conference right now, 13.5 games below the leaders with no clear signs of Drummond or Ish Smith's return in the near future.
Let's take a look at some of the best and worst individual performances in this thrilling Kings' win.
Hit: Buddy Hield
With just 3.4 seconds left on the clock and the Kings down by two, Bogdan Bogdanovic was given the task of inbounding the ball. Buddy Hield fumbled the inbound pass, recollected it, slid by three defenders and hoisted a one-legged three-pointer which beat the buzzer on its way through the net. Hield said after the game:
"I'm blessed to say I got one in the NBA at the highest level. It's fun. As a kid, you always dream of hitting one of those type of shots. It's something I'll cherish for the rest of my life."
Hield finished with a game-high total of 35 points (along with nine rebounds and three assists), but none more important than the three-pointer he squeezed in during the final seconds of the game. Buddy had an unforgettable shooting night, dropping an insane 7-of-9 from beyond the arc in Detroit.