It started with an alley-oop layup and ended with an alley-oop that was more of a throw-in than a dunk.
Willie Cauley-Stein wasn’t on the floor for the final 8.7 seconds after fouling out, but it didn’t matter. The game had already been decided.
The Kings’ fourth-year center scored a team-leading 23 points in a 119-110 victory over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday at Vivint Smart Home Arena. The win snapped Sacramento’s six-game skid against Utah and avenged a season-opening loss on Oct. 17, when the Jazz beat the Kings 123-117 at Golden 1 Center.
Cauley-Stein did a lot of that damage while being guarded by Rudy Gobert, a French center known as the “Stifle Tower” who is the reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year.