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Austin Rivers dropped 41 points on Sunday.
Raise your hands if you had Austin Rivers crossing the 40-point threshold in the NBA bubble.
Now put back down any of those hands that popped up, you liars.
Entering Sunday’s contest, the Sacramento Kings’ situation was already sad enough, dealing with injuries, Buddy Hield’s shooting woes and a team that looked like it’s been sleepwalking in Orlando. Thanks to the Portland Trail Blazers’ win behind 51 points from Damian Lillard hours earlier, the Kings had already been officially eliminated from playoff contention.
But their outlook got even more depressing in Sunday’s contest against the Houston Rockets, when it wasn’t James Harden who ignited for 40-plus points, but Austin Rivers coming off the bench.
Austin Rivers set a new career high with 41 points
While Harden did a fair share of damage on his own with 32 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals in just 33 minutes, it was Rivers who wound up twisting the knife in Sunday’s game, finishing with a career-high 41 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals in his 33 minutes of action.
Rivers shot a blistering 14-for-20 from the field, including 6-for-11 from 3-point range and 7-for-8 from the free-throw line, to help lead Houston to a 129-112 victory.
Harden going for 40 is one thing. The same goes Russell Westbrook or the currently injured Eric Gordon. But getting sliced and diced by Austin Rivers? That’s something else entirely.
According to Stat Muse, Rivers joined Harden as the only players in Rockets history to score 40-plus points on better than 70 percent shooting. He was also the first Rocket to drop 40 off the bench since Sleepy Floyd back in 1991.
With Westbrook getting the night off and Gordon still sidelined, Rockets fans must have been elated to see Rivers play with such confidence. He’s not always going to be on fire like this, but if he can help pace the bench unit for this ultra small-ball team, Houston could be a real problem in the postseason.