Two Serbs, Predrag Stojakovic and Vlade Divac combined for 67 points and 21 rebounds as the Sacramento Kings overcame the early loss of Chris Webber and an NBA season-high 53 points by Delk in a thrilling 121-117 overtime victory over the Phoenix Suns.
Divac scored a career-high 34 points and Stojakovic matched a career-best with 33.
The night began inauspiciously for the Kings, who were coming off
Saturday's 107-104 overtime loss to Philadelphia. Webber, the team's
leading scorer and rebounder, was ejected in the first quarter after jawing
with officials.
"It was something that we really talked about after he left the floor," Divac
said of Webber's impromptu exit. "That everybody needed to step up,
definitely Peja (Stojakovic) did and myself."
"It was a big game for us," Stojakovic said. "It was a tough situation for us
when Webber was ejected. We lost our leader and our best player. At that
moment, we just had to step it up as a team. Me, Jason (Williams) and
Vlade had to carry the team, take more shots and be more aggressive on
offense and that's what we did."
Stojakovic, who also had 33 points against the 76ers, carried the Kings for
the better part of three quarters before going scoreless in the fourth period
and overtime. That was when Divac took control, scoring 14 points and
grabbing several key rebounds in the final 15 minutes.
"It was tough on us when they came back in the third quarter," Divac said.
"Everybody thought we were going to drop one. But we came back and
really played tough defense even though Tony scored 50 on us. He was
very difficult to guard."
"Peja was terrific the first three quarters, Vlade was terrific, Jason came in
and made those big plays at the end," Kings coach Rick Adelman said. "It's
a great team win without Chris out there."
VLADE DIVAC PREDRAG STOJAKOVIC
Minutes played 43 46
Field goals (M-A) 11-15 13-22
3-point field goals (M-A) 0 5-7
Free-throws (M-A) 12-16 2-2
Rebounds (O+D) 12 (4+8) 9 (0+9)
Assists 6 3
Personal fouls 4 2
Steals 1 0
Turnovers 4 2
Blocks 2 0
Points 34 33
