Kings at Nets
The Brooklyn Nets have a winning record for the first time since early last season and look to continue their latest surge when they open a three-game homestand against the Sacramento Kings on Monday. Behind a career high-tying 40 points and seven assists from D'Angelo Russell, the Nets capped an impressive 2-0 road trip and won their third in a row overall with a comeback 117-115 triumph at Orlando on Friday.
"If the media wasn't in here, we'd be screaming and yelling, playing music and dancing," center Jarrett Allen told reporters. "That was so great. It's not every day you see a team coming back from 21 points down. ... When you start winning games like this, it definitely changes your personality." The rally in Orlando gave Brooklyn a 16-5 record over its last 21 games and its first winning mark since it opened 3-2 last season. The Nets will put a five-game home winning streak on the line against a Kings club that has split its first two contests on a six-game road trip. Buddy Hield's 3-pointer at the buzzer capped a 35-point performance and lifted Sacramento to a dramatic 103-101 victory at Detroit on Saturday, giving the team an 11-4 record against Eastern Conference opponents.
TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC, NBCS California (Sacramento)
ABOUT THE KINGS (24-22): Hield's game-winner was part of a 15-point outburst for him in the game's final three-plus minutes and allowed Sacramento to come back from what was a 13-point deficit early in the fourth. "We were kind of running in mud," coach Dave Joerger told reporters. "We hung in there long enough with our defense to make it close at the end and then Buddy got going." Hield buried 7-of-9 3-pointers and is a blistering 46-for-82 from behind the arc in 10 games this month.
ABOUT THE NETS (24-23): Russell is averaging 23.2 points in January and he sees a team that is all in on a playoff push as it rests over .500 this late in a season for the first time since the 2012-13 campaign. "We've got a great group of guys with the same goals and that's what we're starting to notice," Russell told reporters Friday. "We're all buying in and we're all hanging on each other's success. It's a great feeling." Fellow guard Spencer Dinwiddie is averaging 26.5 points on 57.6 percent shooting over the last two games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Kings PG De'Aaron Fox has 27 assists and four turnovers over his last three games.
2. Allen had four blocks Friday and is averaging 3.2 over his last five contests.
3. Sacramento won both meetings last season, including 104-99 at Brooklyn.