Richaun Holmes emotionally speaks on valiant effort in Kings win vs. Lakers

Holmes gets emotional after valiant effort in Kings’ win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea

Kings center Richaun Holmes stayed ready.

An afterthought in Kings coach Mike Brown’s rotations most nights, Holmes found himself in the starting five during the Kings’ 116-111 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday night.

Domantas Sabonis, the NBA’s leading rebounder and double-double machine, was ruled out hours before the game with a non-COVID illness.

Holmes was up for the task, however, and logged a season-high 16 points and 11 rebounds in 31 minutes. He was a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor and posted a plus/minus rating of plus-23, the second-best on the Kings behind guard Kevin Huerter (plus-30).

It was quite a performance from the Kings center who lost his rotation spot earlier this season and did not play (DNP) in over one-third of Sacramento’s games to start the season.

“Just stay ready, come out here and get what I could,” Holmes told NBC Sports California’s Morgan Ragan and Deuce Mason on “Kings Postgame Live.” “It’s been a struggle. To come out here and be able to help my guys get a win, I’m getting emotional.

“There’s a lot of passion for this game. A lot of work put in. I’m just happy to get the win.”

Over his first three seasons in Sacramento, Holmes averaged 12.5 points and 7.9 rebounds per game but has struggled to find a role in Brown’s new-look offense. As such, the Kings’ front office has begun window shopping for a potential backup to Sabonis at center before the Feb. 9 trade deadline.

But when the Lakers (20-25) cut Sacramento’s (25-18) lead down to one point with five seconds to play, there was Holmes coming in clutch. He was fouled by Lakers guard Max Christie near mid-court, which was ruled a clear-path foul to give the center two free throws and the Kings another possession.

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Holmes knocked down both free throws as Kings fans chanted “Light the beam!” in Los Angeles.

“Got to make the free throws,” Holmes said. “I left it all out there, honestly. I did whatever I could to help my team get the win. Played as hard as I could.”

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“We’ve been seeing it all year. We feel like we have a deep team,” Brown said after the win. “We know guys are going to be injured, be sick, whatever it may be. Having that next-man-up mentality has been huge for us.

“He goes out there and plays 31 minutes for us. He was great. More importantly, he had four or five deflections, which were huge. His 11 rebounds — we needed every single rebound we could get.”

The Kings climbed into third place in the Western Conference standings after their fifth straight win. It’s the first time Sacramento has been seven games over .500 since 2005 and they have won three of four games against the Lakers to take the season series and plummet their rival closer to the dreary West basement.