Julius Randle recorded 26 points and nine rebounds, and the New York Knicks beat the host Sacramento Kings 103-101 on Friday night to notch back-to-back victories for the first time this season.
Elfrid Payton scored 16 points, and Mitchell Robinson added 14 points and nine rebounds for New York, which overcame a 16-point, third-quarter deficit. Damyean Dotson tallied 11 points and Marcus Morris had 10 for the Knicks.
Buddy Hield scored 34 points and collected a career-high 12 rebounds for Sacramento, which had a three-game winning streak halted. Harrison Barnes scored 18 points, Bogdan Bogdanovic added 14, Nemanja Bjelica recorded 12 points and seven assists, and Marvin Bagley III had 10 points and seven rebounds.
New York is 2-2 since Mike Miller took over as interim coach after the firing of David Fizdale.
The Knicks shot 46.3 percent from the field, including 9 of 30 from 3-point range, but committed just nine turnovers.
Hield was 14 of 23 from the field, including 6 of 13 from 3-point range. The Kings shot 47 percent and were 17 of 39 from behind the arc while making 14 turnovers.
New York recovered from the big deficit to move ahead with 4:31 left in the contest. Payton drained a 3-pointer, Morris converted a three-point play and Payton scored on a floater during an 8-0 run that saw the Knicks take a 95-93 advantage.
Randle's free-throw-line jumper gave New York a 99-95 lead with 1:39 remaining. Barnes split two free throws 17 seconds later, and the margin stayed at three until Morris scored on a put-back with 9.1 seconds remaining.
After Hield scored on a layup, Randle made two free throws with 1.4 seconds left to again make it a five-point lead as the Knicks closed it out.
Hield sank 9 of 10 field-goal attempts while scoring 22 points in the first half as the Kings built a 54-45 lead.
The Knicks trailed 56-50 after Morris knocked down a 3-pointer with 10:42 left in the third quarter. Sacramento scored 14 of the next 18 points with Barnes capping the splurge by making a 3-pointer to push the lead to 70-54 with 7:16 remaining.
New York closed the quarter with an 11-3 run over the final 4:11 to trail 80-72 entering the final stanza.
Dotson began the fourth quarter with a 33-foot 3-pointer to pull the Knicks within five, and he later connected on another trey to cut Sacramento's lead to 85-83 with 8:50 remaining.
--Field Level Media
