Whenever a player makes his first return to his former team’s home-court wearing a different jersey, there is a distinct type of electricity in the air. That was evident at the Sleep Train Arena on Friday night as Isaiah Thomas and the Phoenix Suns took on the Sacramento Kings sans DeMarcus Cousins (stomach virus).
The crowd in Sac-Town reached its loudest decibel after an incredible transition connection between Rudy Gay and Ben McLemore in the closing minutes of the third quarter. After Gay knocked the ball out of Thomas’ hands from behind, Reggie Evans recovered and threw the outlet pass up the court to Gay. With McLemore in tow, Gay threw up the pretty lob for the former Slam Dunk Contest participant to finish with authority.
Besides the fans’ roar in the arena, there are other individual celebrations after this beautiful alley-oop that are worth paying attention to. First, there is McLemore’s audible scream as he hammered down the lob. Then, there is Darren Collison’s GIF worthy fist-pump reaction to the play. Finally, there is Derrick Williams who loses his balance and falls to the ground and chest-bumping McLemore as the team headed into a timeout, which takes the cake in our books.
However, the Sleep Train Arena grew silent in the fourth as Isaiah Thomas led the Suns to an 18-7 spurt to begin the last twelve minutes of regulation. The Kings were unable to recover and eventually fell to the Suns, 115-106. While Phoenix improved their winning streak to five, Sacramento worsened their record to 2-9 without Cousins in the lineup.
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