Russell Westbrook had 23 points, 12 assists, and 11 rebounds for his NBA-record 208th career triple-double, and the Sacramento Kings — desperate for a win after losing four straight — handed the Chicago Bulls a 126-110 defeat on Sunday night at Golden 1 Center. Malik Monk added 30 points off the bench and rookie center Maxime Raynaud posted 26 points and 11 rebounds as Sacramento led for 88 percent of the game and built a lead that Chicago never seriously threatened. The Bulls fell to 26-38. The Kings improved to 15-50 and snapped a four-game losing streak.
Josh Giddey — making his return to the lineup after sitting out Thursday's win in Phoenix with a right ankle sprain — finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists for his own triple-double, his 16th as a Bull, which moved him past Scottie Pippen and into second place on Chicago's all-time triple-double list. Matas Buzelis, also back after missing the Suns game with the same ankle issue, scored 20 points on 5-of-12 shooting with three blocks. Collin Sexton came off the bench to score 28 points on 9-of-12 shooting, going 7-of-9 from three, but it was a performance that made a blowout look closer than the game ever was. Nick Richards had 10 points and 11 rebounds. The Bulls shot 42 percent from the field against Sacramento's 45 percent, committed 14 turnovers to the Kings' four, and were outscored 68-36 in the paint.
The Second Quarter Buried Them
The Bulls were competitive early, and briefly led. Tre Jones connected on a driving floater off a Yabusele assist to tie it at four with 9:59 left in the first quarter, and a Josh Giddey bucket off a Buzelis assist made it 6-4 Chicago. That was as good as it got. Westbrook answered immediately with a 28-foot three off a Precious Achiuwa assist to put Sacramento ahead for good, and though the Bulls stayed in striking distance through the first twelve minutes — trailing 30-25 after one — the second quarter was where any hope of a competitive game disappeared.
Raynaud was the instrument. The French rookie had 14 points in the second quarter alone on 5-of-10 shooting with four free throws made, and Westbrook orchestrated with six assists in the period as Sacramento outscored Chicago 35-26. Monk kept coming off the bench to score, the Kings pushed their interior advantage relentlessly, and by the time the halftime buzzer sounded the scoreboard read 65-51. The Bulls had been outscored by 14 over 24 minutes and allowed a half-filled home crowd to find its footing. Chicago's largest lead all game was five. Sacramento's was 17. Those numbers do not lie about who had control of this game from the opening minutes onward.
The third quarter offered a brief flicker. Chicago actually outscored the Kings 38-39, trimming the deficit modestly and showing some life in a stretch where Giddey was efficient — going 2-of-2 from three with four assists — and Sexton delivered his best basketball of the night off the bench, scoring 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting including four threes in eight minutes. But the Kings matched them bucket for bucket, and the fourth quarter was effectively a formality. Sacramento kept attacking the paint and the Bulls kept giving the ball away. The final margin of 16 was the mildest version of what the box score really showed.
Team Statistics
| Category | Kings | Bulls |
|---|---|---|
| Field Goals | 47-105 (45%) | 35-84 (42%) |
| Three Pointers | 11-29 (38%) | 17-45 (38%) |
| Free Throws | 21-23 (91%) | 23-34 (68%) |
| Rebounds | 55 | 49 |
| Offensive Rebounds | 13 | 9 |
| Assists | 33 | 27 |
| Turnovers | 4 | 14 |
| Steals | 5 | 2 |
| Blocks | 6 | 6 |
| Points in Paint | 68 | 36 |
| Fast Break Points | 9 | 9 |
| Points off Turnovers | 4 | 13 |
| Largest Lead | 17 | 5 |
Paint and Turnovers Tell the Story
When Giddey and Buzelis were cleared to return from their ankle injuries for this game, Chicago got back two of its most important players less than 72 hours after they helped the Bulls beat Phoenix. The expectation — reasonable at the time — was that a healthier roster would give this team a better chance in Sacramento. What it revealed instead was that the Bulls' issues on this road trip had nothing to do with who was available and everything to do with how Sacramento chose to play them. The Kings attacked the paint with force and purpose all night, outscoring Chicago 68-36 there. When a team is minus-32 in the paint, the rest of the box score becomes largely academic.
The turnover disparity was just as damaging. Chicago committed 14 turnovers; Sacramento committed four. The Kings scored 4 points off Chicago's miscues — modest, but those same miscues gave Sacramento extra possessions, disrupted Chicago's offensive rhythm, and surrendered a half-court game that the Bulls were already losing. Giddey, in particular, struggled through a 0-of-4 shooting quarter in the second — a sign that the ankle was still limiting his burst and confidence going to the basket, even as he was orchestrating the offense and racking up assists. He finished with 10 assists and zero turnovers against an efficient Sacramento defense, which matters, but the Bulls needed more from him offensively on a night when the paint belonged entirely to the Kings.
Sexton was the exception to every problem this team had on Sunday. Coming off the bench and shooting 9-of-12 from the field, including 7-of-9 from three, he provided the kind of off-the-bench scoring that kept the final margin from reaching the 20s. His 28 points were electric, even if they arrived in garbage-time bursts that never actually altered the game's trajectory. Buzelis showed flashes — 20 points and three blocks — but turned the ball over three times in 30 minutes, and his four-point, 0-of-2 first quarter set a difficult tone. Richards remained reliable, posting 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Yabusele's 22 minutes were modest. On a night when the Bulls needed their best collective effort to stay in it, only Sexton and Richards delivered above expectation.
Looking Ahead
The Bulls are now 26-38 and have lost both games of what was supposed to be a productive five-game road trip. They head to Golden State next, where they will face the Warriors on Tuesday night at 9:00 p.m. CT. The health of Giddey and Buzelis — both of whom returned here after missing Thursday's game — will be worth monitoring, though both played full minutes on Sunday and did not appear to be restricted. The bigger question over the remaining three games of this trip is whether Chicago can find an identity on the road that doesn't rely on opponent shooting slumps or late heroics to stay competitive.
For Sacramento, Sunday was a needed exhale. Westbrook's 208th triple-double broke his own all-time NBA record — Nikola Jokic sits second with 181 — and the performance came six days after Westbrook publicly called out the local media's framing of the Kings' season. The Kings remain at 15-50 and are not going anywhere in the standings, but Sunday was the kind of night that reminded a depleted roster what winning feels like. Raynaud's 26-point, 11-rebound performance continued the rookie's strong stretch, and Monk's 30 off the bench underscored why Sacramento's depth has been one of the few bright spots in an otherwise forgettable season. Chicago was the wrong team to play on the wrong night.