Sacramento was swept by New Orleans without the injured Vezenkov – Basketball – Legionnaires

The Sacramento Kings without the Bulgarian star Alexander Vezenkov in their lineup were defeated as a guest by the New Orleans Pelicans with 93:129 points (31:29, 22:37, 16:34, 24:29) in a regular season meeting of the National Basketball Association (NBA), thereby missing a seventh consecutive victory for the first time since 2003 .

The Bulgarian international was neither in the starting five nor on the bench due to a sprained thumb on his left hand, which he suffered on the umbrella he made 24 hours earlier in the victory over the Dallas Mavericks.

The Kings played a good first quarter when they trailed by 4:15, but managed to close the gap and even pulled away at the end of the half with a two-point lead at 29:31. After that, however, things got worse for Mike Brown’s team, with the California team trailing by as many as 13 points with 22:37 left at halftime. In the third quarter, the situation became even more difficult, as Vezenkov’s teammates scored only 16 points, and at one point the New York Pelicans even took a 40-point lead, which was repeated several times until the end of the game. In the final quarter, the “Kings” tried to reduce the lead, but again fell behind significantly, and the “Pelicans” closed the final quarter with a 29:24 and a total of 36 points in the overall score.

Brendon Ingram was the top scorer in the match with 31 points from the winning team, and he also distinguished himself with 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Zion Williamson added 26 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists. A good performance for the “pelicans” was also made by the Lithuanian Jonas Valančunas, who finished the meeting with a “double-double” – 10 points, 13 rebounds and 7 assists.

For Sacramento, Harrison Barnes scored 16 points and 4 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox had 14 points and 2 rebounds. Lithuanian Domantas Sabonis, who finished the meeting with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists, also excelled for the “Kings” with a “double-double”.

Despite this defeat, Sacramento remains with a positive balance of 8 wins and 5 losses in the fourth position in the Western Conference. New Orleans has an even number of wins and losses – 7 each and occupies the ninth place in the West. The next game for the “Kings” is again against the “Pelicans” in New Orleans on 23.11 (Thursday) at 03:00 Bulgarian time.