SACRAMENTO -- Change is hard.
Following their roster shakeup at the NBA trade deadline, the Sacramento Kings looked lost in their battle with the Miami Heat on Friday night at Golden 1 Center.
And then it all clicked.
Led by Buddy Hield's late-game heroics and contributions up and down the lineup, the Kings erased a big fourth-quarter deficit to shock the Heat 102-96.
Josh Richardson scored 21 points and Hassan Whiteside dropped in a monster double-double (17 points, 19 rebounds), but it wasn't enough to stop Sacramento.
Here are three takeaways as the Kings moved to 4-1 on the homestand and 29-26 on the season.
Sports
The new guys
No one said it would be easy to swap out two rotational players on the fly without even a practice, but Harrison Barnes and Alec Burks both played solid minutes in their first opportunity in purple and black.
Barnes started at small forward in the first half and at the four coming out of intermission. He finished the night with 12 points on 3-of-9 shooting and chipped in seven rebounds.
Burks came off the bench to provide a spark for Kings coach Dave Joerger, scoring nine points and grabbing four boards in just 15 minutes.
These two will play plenty of minutes down the stretch for Sacramento. The team likely will practice Saturday, which should help.
Buddy and Bogi
Where would the Kings be without Hield and Bogdan Bogdanovic? Nowhere good is the answer.
Both missed free-throw attempts in the final two minutes, when makes could have made the night a little easier, but that's a footnote.
Hield scored a team-high 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting, and his rebound and put-back with 35.5 seconds remaining gave the Kings a three-point lead late.
Bogdanovic struggled with his shot early, but he kept hoisting it up. The second-year guard dropped in 16 points, five rebounds and four assists to help the Kings come away with a huge victory.
D-Wade crashes
In his final game in Sacramento, 12-time All-Star and probable Hall of Fame guard Dwyane Wade drew a huge ovation from the Sacramento crowd.
The 37-year-old went crashing to the floor in the first quarter, landing on his back and banging his head off the floor hard. After a short stoppage, Wade got up and went to the Heat locker room. He returned in the second quarter to torch the Kings for 11 points, including three makes from behind the arc.
Wade finished the night with 15 points and four assists in the loss. The 16-year NBA veteran already has announced his retirement following this season.
