Sacramento @ Minnesota preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 26, 2019 ) Minnesota 105, Sacramento 104

The Sacramento Kings recently snapped a six-game slide, but the Minnesota Timberwolves can't seem to find their way out of a deep rut. The Kings will try to make it two straight wins at the expense of the struggling Timberwolves when they visit Minnesota on Monday.

Sacramento is playing the finale of a five-game trip on Monday and is hoping to maintain the defensive intensity that helped it earn a 98-81 triumph at Chicago on Friday. The Kings, who dropped 15 of the previous 18 contests, allowed an average of 122.7 points during the six-game losing streak but limited the Bulls to 39.2 percent from the field and held them to a total of 12 points in the fourth quarter. The Timberwolves suffered their ninth consecutive setback in a 113-104 home loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday despite another big game from center Karl-Anthony Towns. "There's frustration, obviously," Towns, who scored 37 points on Saturday, told reporters after the loss. "We want to win. I want to win. But no one is going to feel bad for us, so we've got to go out there and get it done. Obviously, you have to stay positive, because this league doesn't give a (darn) about us being upset or feeling depressed about ourselves."

TIME: 8 p.m. ET. TV: NBCS California, FS North

ABOUT THE KINGS (16-29): Sacramento coach Luke Walton moved leading scorer Buddy Hield to the bench on Friday and the switch sparked the 27-year-old to 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting. "When they made that run in the third and we kind of looked like we got shook a little bit, Buddy put us on his back and knocked down some big shots and really kind of got us going again, so I was really pleased with him," Walton told reporters. "We talk about team a lot and it doesn't matter who starts, and it really doesn't, but sometimes when you do that, players can take it and go in the negative direction. Buddy did the exact opposite and we don't win that game tonight without Buddy." Hield went 5-of-9 from 3-point range on Friday after going a combined 16-of-57 over the previous six games.

ABOUT THE TIMBERWOLVES (15-31): Towns is averaging 35.7 points on 58.6 percent shooting over the last three games, but Minnesota suffered single-digit losses in each contest. "We all have to do more. Everybody," Timberwolves coach Ryan Saunders told reporters after the latest loss. "We don't win games with one person. We don't lose games with one person. So, what that means is that everybody has to do their part." Minnesota is struggling to connect from beyond the arc and forward Robert Covington is 5-of-26 from 3-point range over the last four games.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Timberwolves G Allen Crabbe (knee) left Saturday's game and is day-to-day.

2. Kings PF Marvin Bagley III (foot) sat out the last two games and is questionable for Monday.

3. Minnesota snapped an 11-game slide with a 105-104 overtime victory at Sacramento on Dec. 26.

PREDICTION: Timberwolves 117, Kings 115