San Antonio, USA, April 13 - The Sacramento Kings' Predrag Stojakovic hit a basket with just two seconds left in overtime to beat the San Antonio Spurs 107-105 (23-31, 21-22, 22-21, 30-22, 11-9) and delayed their celebration of clinching home court advantage for the entire NBA playoffs on Thursday.
Sacramento set an NBA record with its ninth overtime victory of the season, extended its winning streak to five games despite a season-high 42 points by San Antonio's Tim Duncan and the overtime absence of Chris Webber, who fouled out at the end of regulation.
The win placed the Kings within 1 1/2 games of the Spurs for the league's best record.
The Kings seemed to have the game in hand in regulation after a pair of free throws by Stojakovic gave them a 96-92 lead with 14 seconds remaining.
Terry Porter hit a 3-pointer for the Spurs with seven seconds left. Then, with 4.3 seconds to go, Webber fouled out, and Duncan made one of two free throws to tie the game at 96 and force overtime.
The game remained close through overtime. Antonio Daniels hit a 3-pointer with 54 seconds to give the Spurs a 105-103 lead.
Vlade Divac
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Vlade Divac then made a layup to tie it with 32 seconds left. Danny Ferry missed a jumper with 13.7 seconds to go, opening the door for the Kings to snatch victory.
Sacramento inbounded to Bobby Jackson, who found Stojakovic on the right side and after a fake, he drove the baseline and scored.
"The play was set up for me," Stojakovic said. "I got the ball and some
isolation on the wing. I watched the clock and just wanted to get a good
shot at the basket right before the end so they wouldn't get a good offensive chance."
San Antonio failed to score in its last possession.
Webber had 26 points and 13 rebounds and Stojakovic added six of his 16 points in OT. Divac made 7-of-12 shots for 20 points to go with 13 rebounds. Duncan finished with a season-high 42 points and 11 rebounds. Stojakovic and Divac scored 9 of Kings' 11 points in overtime.
"This team, we hope to go all the way," Divac said. "Some people think that
if we get through the first round that will be a success, but I hope this team
goes all the way and faces these same Spurs in the Western Conference
finals. They should be there, (but) it is going to be tough for anyone coming
out of the West."
