LOS ANGELES — Malik Monk scored a career-high 45 points, De’Aaron Fox had the go-ahead basket and finished with 42 and the Sacramento Kings beat the LA Clippers 176-175 in double overtime in the second-highest scoring game in NBA history on Friday.
Detroit beat Denver 186-184 in triple overtime on Dec. 13, 1983, in the highest-scoring NBA game. The Kings are third on the scoring list with the 176 points and the Clippers fourth.
The Clippers had a 175-169 advantage with 1:57 remaining before the Kings scored the final seven points, including Fox’s jumper with 36.5 seconds remaining. The Clippers had the final shot, but Nicolas Batum missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
The Kings overcame a 14-points deficit late in the fourth quarter and six-point deficits in both overtime periods.
The teams also combined for 44 3-pointers, tied for the most in an NBA game.
“It was fun. The atmosphere was crazy,” Monk said. “Seeing all the Kings fans in here, too — it was loud. The Kings’ side, too, as well. We just stuck with it, man. Got down like 10 or 12 at one point in the fourth, came back. We just had our heads up, and we knew they were going to let us back in it.”
Kawhi Leonard scored a season-high 44 points for Los Angeles and Paul George added 34.
Russell Westbrook started and made his Clippers debut after he cleared waivers Wednesday. He had 17 points, 14 assists and five rebounds in 39 minutes before fouling out with 1:49 remaining in the second overtime. The 14 assists tied a franchise record for a player making his team debut, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
“I thought he was great,” Clippers coach Ty Lue said. “Still learning the offense, still learning where guys like the basketball, running the plays and things like that. I thought he did a really good job.”
Los Angeles had a 145-131 advantage with 4:25 remaining before the Kings rallied back to force overtime with a 22-8 run. Monk forced the extra session with a 3-pointer from the corner with 1.1 seconds remaining.
Sacramento’s key spurt late in regulation was 10 straight points that got it to 147-146 with 1:22 left.
The Clippers had a 162-156 lead with 3:04 remaining in the first overtime before the Kings scored six straight to even it. Monk hit a pair of free throws with 20.4 seconds left to tie the score again at 164. Los Angeles had a chance to win it, but Leonard was unable to put in a tip-in at the buzzer.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.