The Kings have been searching for production from their bench since Malik Monk moved into the starting lineup.
They got it from Kevin Huerter — and later Doug McDermott — in Sunday’s game against the Utah Jazz.
Huerter scored a season-high 26 points to lead the Kings to a 141-97 victory over the Jazz before a crowd of 15,706 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
Huerter went 10 of 14 from the field and 6 of 9 from 3-point range after struggling over the first 24 games. Kings coach Mike Brown also credited Huerter for playing excellent defense.
“Kevin was huge on both ends off the bench,” Brown said. “Offensively and defensively, he was really, really good.”
De’Aaron Fox had 21 points and nine assists for the Kings (12-13), who have won two in a row for the first time since beating the Miami Heat on Nov. 4 and the Toronto Raptors on Nov. 6.
Domantas Sabonis had 19 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. DeMar DeRozan scored 18 points. McDermott came off the bench in the fourth quarter to whip the crowd into a frenzy, scoring 18 points in eight minutes after hitting his first six 3-point attempts.
Keyonte George scored 25 points to lead the Jazz (5-18), which was coming off its highest-scoring game of the season after beating the Portland Trail Blazers 141-99 on Friday.
John Collins had 19 points and seven rebounds. Walker Kessler had eight points, 14 rebounds and four blocked shots.
The Kings led 26-23 at the end of the opening period. They held the Jazz to 35% shooting while forcing five turnovers.
Sacramento went up by 13 early in the second quarter after Huerter came off the bench to provide a spark. Huerter had 14 points and four rebounds in his first nine minutes, going 5 of 7 from the field and 4 of 6 from 3-point range.
Huerter went into the game averaging a career-low 9.3 points per game while shooting a career-worst 29.7% from long distance. He has shown recent signs of a resurgence while continuing to battle inconsistency. He went 3 of 7 from 3-point range in Tuesday’s win over the Houston Rockets, 0 of 6 in Thursday’s loss to the Memphis Grizzlies and 4 of 4 in Friday’s win over the San Antonio Spurs.
The Kings led by as many as 20 in the second period. They went into the halftime break with a 62-45 advantage after shooting 52% from the field while holding the Jazz to 33.3%.
Sacramento blew the game open in the third period, outscoring Utah 43-29 to amass a 31-point lead. They led by as many as 46 in the fourth quarter.