Sacramento point guard Tyreke Evans had his first real breakout game in the NBA on Saturday night, leading the Kings to a 104-99 upset over the Utah Jazz at EnergySolutions Arena.
"What took him so long?" joked new Kings coach Paul Westphal.
Evans' 32-point, seven-assist outing was extra special because it came in just his sixth NBA outing. Plus, the rookie had his big night going against one of the game's best point guards — Utah's Deron Williams — much of the night.
"D-Will, man, he's tough," said Evans. "I can see why he's considered one of the best point guards in the league. He can handle the ball real well and he's also quick, so it was tough going against him."
Of course, Williams — who finished with 29 points and 15 assists — didn't find it easy going against the 6-6 guard from the University of Memphis, either. Evans made very few rookie mistakes, turning the ball over just twice in nearly 43 minutes on the court.
Evans likened the pace of the game to his lone college basketball season.
"That's the style of play I played in Memphis — up and down, fast breaks," Evans said. "Once I got that going, I got a lot of rhythm. I felt like I was unstoppable getting to the basket. I was just taking advantage of everything that was out on the court."
Evans showed he has an outside shooting touch — making two of his three 3-point attempts. But he made his living against the Jazz by being aggressive and going strong to the hoop. That earned him 19 free throw attempts for the game — more than he'd had in all his previous NBA games combined. He made the Jazz pay by making 16 of them.
"I should've made them all," Evans said, not satisfied with his three misses from the foul line.
Evans, who just turned 20 in September, was averaging 11.2 points per game prior to Saturday. A major reason for his big night was that Sacramento's leading scorer, Kevin Martin, was out of action with an injured left wrist. Martin averaged 30.6 points per game through the first five, so someone else needed to pick up the slack.
Evans, who doesn't lack confidence, was ready to do his part in Martin's absence.
"I've been a scorer all my life," said Evans. "I can score. With Kevin out, that's going be some of my responsibility."
Westphal, a former NBA star guard himself who is a veteran coach at both the NBA and college levels, wasn't surprised by Evans' big game.
"He's going to have a lot of games like that," said Westphal. "He's a very special player."
And he's a player who will likely have many more memorable battles against Williams and the Jazz in the years to come.
e-mail: lojo@desnews.com