SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- If the Kings can keep this type of attitude, they have a chance to finish out the season with a stretch of play.

"I don't give a (care) about the stats," said center DeMarcus Cousins. "I'm just happy for the win."

The Kings managed to win Friday night, beating the Phoenix Suns, 121-112, at Sleep Train Arena.

The win against the injury-depleted Suns prevented the Kings from falling percentage points behind the Suns and New Orleans and for the worst record in the Western Conference.

And it took some impressive stats -- what Cousins said he doesn't care about -- to pull off the win.

The Kings had four players core at least 20 points, led by Isaiah Thomas with 27. Tyreke Evans had 25 points, Marcus Thornton had 23 and Cousins finished with 22.

It was the first time since Jan. 16, 2009 that four Kings scored at least 20 when John Salmons, Kevin Martin, Jason Thompson and Brad Miller all managed to reach 20 points.

And it was Cousins that set the tone early.

Cousins made the same number of shots in the first quarter (three) as he had in the previous two games. Cousins scored 18 points and had seven rebounds in a strong first half.

"You have bad games, you have bad nights," Cousins said. "Sometimes you have a stretch of them, sometimes it's one night. Just bouncing back from them is the biggest thing and I feel like I did that tonight."

Cousins took advantage of the Suns being without injured starting center Marcin Gortan and his backup, Jermaine O'Neal to get the Kings off to a good start.

But the second half was uneven as Cousins picked up his third and fourth fouls in the first five minutes of the third quarter and had to sit.

Cousins picked up his fifth foul with 10:53 left to play but was not substituted out the game. Keeping Cousins in the game paid off four of his game-high 14 rebounds and also had four of his team-high seven assists in the final period.

Thornton scored 10 in the final quarter and Evans had nine points.

The Suns cut the Kings' lead to 98-94 with 6:50 to play when Thornton made two threes as part of a 13-6 run that gave the Kings enough distance to withstand the final push from Michael Beasley, Wesley Johnson and Goran Dragic.

"In that situation I'm just trying to give the team a boost, make plays,"

Thornton said. "I've been a playmaker, making clutch shots since I've been here, so I'm just trying to keep that going."

That Thornton would get hot from three-point range isn't a surprise. That Evans chipped in Sunday was.

Evans, often criticized for his inconsistent perimeter shooting, made a career-high four three pointers.

"I just try to shoot it without thinking," Evans said. "If it goes in, it goes in. They leave me open so I have to knock them down. That's what I did tonight."

The scoring numbers were possible because the Kings (22-42) managed to share the ball, finishing with 30 assists.

"There are nights where they don't share the ball," said Kings coach Keith Smart. "This has to be something that they grow at and it has to become part of every game. That's how you become a pretty special basketball team."

The Suns (21-41) totaled a season-high 33 assists, led by Dragic with 16.

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