When you’re an NBA team with a 35-point lead midway through the third quarter, you realize that you still have to execute.  But in reality you start to think about how many minutes you’ll be able to play your 12th man.

On Monday night, the Chicago Bulls didn’t quite get to the point where they could give their scrubs some notable minutes.  The home team was leading the Sacramento Kings 79-44 with approximately, seemingly on their way to an easy victory against a rebuilding team.  Then, the unthinkable happened.

Over the remainder of the game, Sacramento outscored Chicago 58-19 to win the contest and move within one game of .500.

The outcome of the game highlighted the storyline behind these two organizations so far this season.

Vinny - you got a lot of splainin' to do...

After being a participant in one of the most intriguing playoff series in recent NBA playoff history, the Chicago Bulls had limped to a lackluster 10-16 record thus far.  They’ve had some injuries and they lost explosive, clutch shooting guard Ben Gordon, but their play had been very inconsistent.  They’ve have victories under their belt over San Antonio, Cleveland and Atlanta, but have come up short against New Jersey, New York – and now Sacramento.  The Bulls looked to be a team on the rise, particularly in the East (where seemingly all seeds from 5 to 8 are up for grabs).  However, they have proven to be another one of the Eastern squads struggling to take their game to another level.

The Sacramento Kings suffered through a nightmare of a season last year.  Their leading scorer, Kevin Martin, has missed the majority of the teams games over the past year and a half.  With Martin on the active roster, they could barely be considered a mediocre team.  So without him – you guessed it – their lottery material.  In the summer, Sacramento drafted Tyreke Evans – who dominated down the stretch of this game – to lead some of their other youngsters (Jason Thompson, Spencer Hawes) and international talents (Omri Casspi, Francisco Garcia, Sergio Rodriguez) in an effort to rebuild the former perennial playoff contending organization.  So, the Kings execs have to be extremely pleased to see their team sitting with a 13-14 mark at this point in the season.  The record highlights good coaching, and outstanding teamwork and effort.

Just in case you were wondering, the 35 points was the second largest deficit that has been overcome in an NBA game.  The Utah Jazz overcame a 36-point deficit against the Denver Nuggets back in 1996.