The Sacramento Kings are looking to avoid setting an ignominious franchise record when they face the host New Orleans Pelicans on Monday evening.

With a 132-126 defeat to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night, the Kings lost their 12th straight game. That equals the mark held by the 1997-98 team for the most consecutive losses since the franchise moved from Kansas City to Sacramento ahead of the 1985-86 season.

Nique Clifford had a career-high 30 points on 12-of-19 shooting followed by Russell Westbrook with 21 points and nine assists, as Sacramento was without four of its leading scorers in Malik Monk, Zach LaVine, Domantas Sabonis and Keegan Murray. Clifford and Westbrook each made five 3-pointers.

“I got some good looks (Saturday), and my teammates were finding me, putting me in good positions to score the ball, and the shots were falling for me,” Clifford said.

The rookie first-round pick out of Colorado State is emblematic of coach Doug Christie’s pivot towards a youth movement as the Kings, who have made the playoffs just once in the last 19 seasons, attempt to alter their fate.

“The name of the game is to win the game, so that part hurts, but to watch these guys begin to find their way, find their rhythm and compete against some really good teams and put themselves consistently in position to win the ballgame (is encouraging),” Christie said. “Now, there’s a learning curve of how to do it, and it’s difficult. It’s difficult to win in our league.”

Second-year guard Devin Carter scored 18 points, and two-way player Daeqwon Plowden had 16 points, six rebounds and four assists. Rookie center Maxime Raynaud had 14 points and seven rebounds. Undrafted rookie Dylan Cardwell had a double-double off the bench with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Monday night’s clash is the first of three games with the Pelicans this season and the only one in New Orleans.

Saddiq Bey had 30 points, including two free throws with 10.8 seconds left, and Zion Williamson added 29 points, highlighted by a critical three-point play with 35.5 seconds to play, as the Pelicans defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 119-115 to end a three-game losing streak and conclude a 1-3 road trip.

Bey, who is averaging 16.7 points per game, has three 30-plus-point games so far in 2026 after he had none in the first three months of the season.

“In general, we followed and executed the gameplan, the task, especially defensively. … Our guys battled, got stops when we needed to,” New Orleans coach James Borrego said. “Saddiq made huge plays. … We understand we’re going to have to win clutch games to win games. We’re learning how to close.”

Trey Murphy III had 26 points and six rebounds, while Derik Queen had 17 points and eight rebounds in the win over the Timberwolves. A rookie center who had just 10 3-pointers on 47 attempts coming into the contest, Queen went 4-for-4 from beyond the arc.

The Pelicans shot 44.1% (15 for 34) from 3-point land in the game.

–Field Level Media

MILAN, Italy — Ilia Malinin stepped onto the ice knowing figure skating’s Olympic team event hinged on him – and then delivered just enough to haul the United States past Japan and onto the top step of the podium at the Milano Cortina Games.

Italy, feeding off a roaring home crowd, claimed a hard-earned bronze.

The U.S. and Japan were deadlocked heading into the men’s free skate on Sunday night, leaving the 21-year-old double world champion shouldering the Americans’ golden hopes.

A day earlier, he had stumbled to a surprise second place in the short program.

“Being a tie, I was like, okay, I’m the deciding factor,” Malinin said. “I need to just do what I need to do, go out there, but also test the ice again, just to see how it feels, to really prepare myself for my individual event,” he said.

“But it really came down to the energy, the support, the passion for my whole team. Without them, I don’t think we would have gotten this medal.”

As the first skater ever to land seven quadruple jumps in a program, many at the Milano Ice Skating Arena anticipated a repeat performance on Sunday.

Instead, the self-named “Quad God” looked unusually mortal.

He landed four of his seven planned quad jumps cleanly. He turned two — including the quadruple Axel, a jump only he has ever landed in competition — into triples, and bobbled the landing on another in a program that looked, for a moment, as though it might unravel.

His 200.03 points were nearly 40 off his best, yet still untouchable for Japan’s Shun Sato, who scored 194.86.

His unique free program had the crowd roaring. Entitled “A Voice,” it features his own voice playing over the soundtrack, with philosophical lines such as “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing” and “Embrace the storm.”

Fitting, considering Malinin, who has appeared so carefree throughout his meteoric career, said he underestimated the enormity of the Olympic stage.

“I didn’t really understand the impact of the Olympic environment,” he said. “I was kind of more in shock of really just being at the Olympics for the first time.

“So I really just told myself, okay, now you’ve experienced it for the very first time. So, now the long program, you can come in with a different mindset, a different energy.”

Malinin was also thrilled by the presence of tennis great Novak Djokovic, who leapt to his feet when the American unleashed his trademark backflip, an element that receives no marks but delights the fans.

“I did see Djokovic there, and it was, honestly, just so unreal,” Malinin said, with a wide grin. “I’ve heard from everyone that after I landed my back flip, he (was) standing there with his hands on his head.

“Like oh, my God. That’s incredible. That’s like a once-in-a-lifetime moment just seeing a famous tennis player watching my performance.”

The young skater has little time to rest, with the short program of the individual event on Tuesday, followed by the free skate on Friday.

–Reuters, special to Field Level Media

MILAN, Italy — “Quad God” Ilia Malinin vaulted the United States above Japan and to the top of the podium at the Milan Cortina Games on Sunday to cap a thrilling team competition that saw host Italy seize bronze.

With the U.S. and Japan tied going into the men’s free skate, the 21-year-old Malinin met the moment even though he wasn’t at his best to lead the U.S. to a second successive Olympic team title.

“I’m proud of myself,” Malinin told reporters.

“I’m proud of my team for all the work they’ve put into this event, without each other it wouldn’t have happened.”

Malinin had been expected to perform seven quads in his free skate but ended up attempting only five, and even those were not flawless as he stumbled out of his quad Lutz. He turned two planned quads – including the quad Axel – into triples.

But he salvaged his program with a huge quad toeloop followed up by a quad Salchow, both in combinations.

He also landed a backflip on one leg to the delight of a packed crowd, which included a large number of vocal Americans at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.

His score of 200.03 was almost 40 points less than his season’s best but still good enough to defeat Japan’s Shun Sato, who skated cleanly after Malinin but was unable to match his rival’s technical ability.

“Honestly, the moment has still not settled in yet. I still haven’t really figured out that I’m wearing a gold medal from the Olympics,” Malinin said.

“It’s honestly just such an unreal feeling. But overall, I’m just so excited. This brings me so much joy and energy, and of course, the confidence and the motivation leading up to my individual event.”

The U.S. finished with 69 points, one more than Japan, while Italy took bronze with 60 points. Malinin remains the runaway favorite to win gold in the individual event at his first Olympic Games.

The U.S. team included the veteran ice dancing duo Madison Chock and Evan Bates, the pair of Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea, and Alysa Liu.

Chock and Bates got the chance to savor the gold medal on the night unlike in Beijing 2022, where a failed drug test by a Russian skater changed the team results and the U.S. athletes did not receive their medals until more than two years later.

JAPAN FIGHT BACK

Japan came into the final day of the team competition trailing the U.S. by five points but their gold medal hopes were given new life with stunning performances from Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara in the pairs and Kaori Sakamoto in the women’s free skate — leaving them tied with the U.S heading into the final men’s free skate.

The Japanese pairs world champions opened with a triple twist lift and Miura was left punching the air in delight as the duo closed their program with Kihara lifting her above him into their final pose — a performance that earned them a season’s best 155.55 from the judges.

“We were trying to aim for about 145 or a little bit higher, and when we saw that it was 155, there was so much joy… we were overwhelmed with emotions,” a teary-eyed Miura told reporters following the rousing performance which left Japan trailing the U.S. by just two points with two segments to go.

Japan pulled into a tie with the U.S. when Sakamoto delivered a spellbinding performance that earned her top place in the women’s free skate with 148.62 points.

American Amber Glenn had to settle for third behind Sakamoto and Georgia’s Anastasiia Gubanova after she endured two botched landings at the start of her routine – a result which wiped out the United States’ lead heading into men’s free skate.

“I just physically didn’t feel great,” Glenn said.

“My legs were feeling heavy, I was tired. I just didn’t feel my best.”

U.S. hopes of defending their gold medal from Beijing then rested on the shoulders of Malinin, who made up for his disappointing short program on Saturday by winning the point America needed to top the podium.

Japan held their heads high after pushing the heavily favored U.S. team to the limit.

“Everybody has done a gold-medal performance,” Sakamoto, a three-time world champion, said.

“So it really doesn’t matter what color medal we get.”

ITALY SHINE

In the battle for bronze, Italy’s Matteo Rizzo delivered the performance of his life to keep his team ahead of Canada and Georgia after solid skates by Lara Naki Gutmann and the duo of Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii.

The Italian team shouted “bronze! bronze!” as Rizzo went through the final moments of his performance, drawing a huge roar from the crowd as he finished and knelt with his forehead on the ground, hiding his tears.

Rizzo smiled and slid on his knees over to his delirious teammates in his box when it was clear Italy would be taking home its first Olympic medal in figure skating since 2014.

“I have no words to describe the feeling of staying on the Olympic ice with the crowd cheering while you’re skating the best program of your life.

“I couldn’t hear the music anymore, I could just hear the screaming of the people, the screaming of my teammates.”

Paris Olympic tennis gold medalist Novak Djokovic, NBA Hall of Famer Pau Gasol, and eight-time Olympic medallist in short track American Apolo Ohno were among the notable names in attendance at the arena on the outskirts of Milan.

–Reuters, special to Field Level Media