Domantas Sabonis on Wednesday had his seventh triple-double of the season, while Malik Monk scored 37 points off the bench as the Sacramento Kings outlasted the Orlando Magic 138-135 in double-overtime on a day in which five teams scored at least 140 points and four scored at least 130 in losses.
Sabonis finished with 22 points, 23 rebounds and 12 assists as Sacramento overcame a hot shooting night by the short-handed Magic, who made 25 three-pointers.
That helped them come back from a 13-point deficit in the third quarter to take a lead in the fourth.
Photo: Sergio Estrada-USA Today
Paolo Banchero had a career-high 43 points to lead the Magic, but missed a potential tying three as the final buzzer sounded.
With the Magic down by one and time running down in regulation, Banchero drilled a contested three-pointer to give Orlando a two-point lead with 16 seconds to go.
Monk answered for Sacramento with a layup to tie the game at 118.
Photo: AP
In overtime, Sabonis gave the Kings a 126-125 lead with 17.1 seconds left on a dunk off a pass by Monk, who had nine assists in 46 minutes.
Monk then made one of two free throws with 7.1 seconds remaining, but after an overturned out-of-bounds call gave the ball to the Magic, Banchero tied the score at 127 on a layup off an inbounds play with 1.1 seconds left to send the game to double-OT.
De’Aaron Fox made two field goals in the second overtime, including a jumper that put the Kings ahead 137-135 with less than a minute to play after the teams had furiously traded baskets.
Wednesday was perhaps one of the oddest statistical nights the NBA has seen.
The Utah Jazz, the Detroit Pistons, the Indiana Pacers, the Atlanta Hawks and the Cleveland Cavaliers all topped 140 points.
“Obviously, it’s fun to score the ball,” Utah’s Lauri Markkanen said after the Jazz beat the Pistons 154-148 in overtime.
Four teams also scored a ton of points, but lost anyway, the Magic, the Pistons, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Milwaukee Bucks.
There was one previous instance of three teams scoring 130 in losses on the same day — that being April 10, 2019, when it happened to Utah, Sacramento and Atlanta.
“We didn’t have our best night, obviously,” Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said after their 141-138 loss to the Hawks.
Scoring has gone up in the NBA this season, with teams averaging 115.5 points per game, the highest clip the league has seen since the average was 116.7 points in the 1969-1970 season.
The other high scores on Wednesday were Indiana beating Milwaukee 142-130 and Cleveland downing the Washington Wizards 140-101.
The previous record for teams scoring 140 or more points on the same day was four, on Jan. 16, 2019, when the Brooklyn Nets, the Houston Rockets, the Golden State Warriors and the New Orleans Pelicans crossed the mark, with the Nets beating the Rockets 145-142 and the Warriors defeating the Pelicans 147-140.
The Jazz-Pistons game on Wednesday was the second this season to top 300 total points; the 302 combined points tied for 25th for the most in a game in NBA history.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, it was:
‧ Lakers 96, Heat 110
‧ Rockets 112, Nets 101
‧ Suns 122, Clippers 131
‧ Knicks 116, Bulls 100
‧ Grizzlies 111, Raptors 116
‧ Mavericks 126, Trail Blazers 97
‧ T’wolves 106, Pelicans 117
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