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Kings hand Bulls first road loss

Nov 21, 2014 - 7:26 AM Sacramento, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - DeMarcus Cousins scored 22 points with 14 rebounds and the Sacramento Kings sent the Chicago Bulls to their first road loss of the season with a 103-88 decision on Thursday.

Rudy Gay shot an efficient 7-for-11 from the floor in his 20-point effort and Darren Collison netted 17 points with 12 assists for the Kings, who went 2-1 on their three-game homestand.

"It's a good feeling every time we win in this league," said Collison. "It feels good that we got back to the basics. We were playing defense, ran the floor when we needed to (and) made the extra pass when we needed to."

Jimmy Butler paced the Bulls with 23 points to go along with eight rebounds, while Mike Dunleavy, Taj Gibson and Aaron Brooks each supplied 12 points for the Bulls.

Chicago, which played without Pau Gasol (calf) and Derrick Rose (hamstring), fell to 6-1 on the road this season.

"We evaluate each area and try to break it down so there is a good understanding of why we win or lose," said Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. "The challenge for us now is to make those corrections to get ready for our next game."

Butler opened the second half with a layup to get the Bulls within 52-49. Cousins then scored six straight points before Ben McLemore knocked down a 3- pointer to extend Sacramento's lead to 61-49.

Chicago trimmed the margin to six later in the third, but an 11-2 Kings run, capped with a jumper from Collison, staked the hosts to a 76-61 lead with 2:18 remaining. Sacramento brought an 80-68 edge into the fourth quarter.

A pair of free throws from Gibson made it an eight-point game midway through the fourth. Gay, who sat on the bench with a heat-wrap around his right Achilles for a majority of the second half, followed with two from the stripe and later converted a layup to increase the cushion back to double digits with over four minutes to go.

The Kings trailed by seven early in the second when they scored 11 straight, with Cousins capping the run with the final four points to make it a 41-37 game with five minutes remaining until half. Gay's 3-pointer with just over a minute left helped Sacramento to a 52-47 lead at the break.

Nikola Mirotic's 3 late in the first capped an 11-2 run for Chicago and it led 29-22 after 12 minutes.

Game Notes

Chicago had won 11 of its last 15 in Sacramento entering the game ... Joakim Noah tallied 10 points with 11 rebounds and six assists in the setback ... The Kings will begin a four-game road trip at Minnesota on Saturday ... Sacramento shot 38-for-74 (51.4 percent) from the floor.