Sacramento, CA – Monta Ellis had 29 points with nine assists and the Milwaukee Bucks survived, 115-113, at Sleep Train Arena, despite a furious comeback from the Sacramento Kings.
The Kings cut a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit to one with 6.6 seconds left, but Ellis calmly sank a pair from the line to increase Milwaukee's edge to three.
The Bucks then fouled Sacramento's Jimmer Fredette to prevent him from tying the game with a 3-pointer, but after splitting a pair from the line, he got the rebound and kicked it out to Tyreke Evans, whose desperation heave at the buzzer just missed the mark.
Brandon Jennings and Mike Dunleavy each scored 16 for the Bucks, who have won two in a row and six of their last seven. Samuel Dalembert added 10 points and 11 boards in the victory.
"I know it didn't end the way we hoped it would as far as holding on to the lead, but we talked about it in the locker room, everybody in there has been on both sides of those types of games," said Bucks coach Jim Boylan.
Fredette scored 14 points off the bench, DeMarcus Cousins ended with 24 points and 10 rebounds and Evans scored 20 for Sacramento, which has dropped three of four.
"We just tried to play to the end," said Evans. "Jimmer did a great job of coming in and scoring a lot of buckets for us. That helped out a lot."
After Dunleavy's triple with 3:48 to go staked the Bucks to a 106-91 lead, Fredette buried a triple to begin a 17-5 surge, which he contributed 10 points to. Evans capped it with consecutive driving scores to make it 111-110 with 23 seconds left, but Jennings hit a pair from the line to up Milwaukee's edge to three.
Despite 20 first half points from Cousins, the Bucks were in control, 61-50, at the break. They used a 10-0 run earlier in the second to create some separation and held a 42-31 after consecutive baskets from Gustavo Ayon.
Milwaukee led by as many as 14 with 4:21 left in the third, but the Kings ended the period on a 11-4 run to come within 85-80 going into the fourth.
Game Notes
Cousins was ejected for picking up a flagrant 2 foul for elbowing Dunleavy in the head ... Jason Thompson added 18 points with eight boards and Isaiah Thomas finished with 14 points and nine assists for the Kings ... Milwaukee shot 46 percent (40-for-87) from the field ... Ayon scored 12 off the bench for the Bucks.
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