Dad strength: De’Aaron Fox scores 41 on baby Reign’s birthday as Kings hold off Bulls
De’Aaron Fox took to social media in the hours leading up to Saturday’s game to send a special message to his son for his first birthday.
“Happy Birthday to my twin!” Fox wrote on Instagram. “You’ve given me more in one year than I could ever give you. Daddy loves you.”
Fox celebrated his son’s birthday with a spectacular performance, scoring 41 points to lead the Kings to a 123-115 victory over the Chicago Bulls before a sellout crowd of 21,579 at United Center.
The Kings, playing on the second night of a back-to-back after beating the Indiana Pacers on Friday, held on to win after the Bulls stormed back from a 30-point deficit. When it was over, Fox greeted his wife and son, who were sitting courtside, while Kings fans shouted “Happy birthday, Reign.”
“We know the people who own those seats, so it was a gift from them,” Fox said.
Fox admitted he was mindful of the occasion, motivated in part by the presence of his wife and son and a special day in their lives. He went 13 of 24 from the field, 5 of 11 from 3-point range and 10 of 12 at the free-throw line while adding four rebounds, four assists and five steals.
“Throughout the game, you kind of get lost in the game a little bit, but it was definitely great to be able to do that for his first birthday,” Fox said.
Fox posted his fifth 40-point game of the season, the most by any player in the Sacramento era and the most in franchise history since Tiny Archibald had 18 40-point games during the 1972-73 season.
Childhood friend and former Kentucky teammate Malik Monk said Fox had a little something extra against the Bulls. Dad strength, perhaps.
“He definitely had something in him,” Monk said. “I’m glad he did that on his son’s first birthday.”
Monk came off the bench to produce 22 points, five rebounds and seven assists for the Kings (29-19), who moved a season-high 10 games over .500 while improving to 5-1 on their current seven-game road trip. Trey Lyles also had a big game off the bench, scoring 16 points while going 5 of 7 from 3-point range.
Domantas Sabonis finished with 13 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists, recording his 14th triple-double of the season to match the career high he established last season. Sabonis also recorded his 31st consecutive double-double.
“What he does on a nightly basis, not many people can do in the league right now,” Fox said. “Not many people have done that in the history of the game. Just his preparation and his skill set, how physical he is, there’s not many people who are put together that way. He does so much for us on the floor whether it’s getting rebounds, going vertical at the rim, if he has to score, getting people open shots. He does a lot for us, not only on offense but defensively as well.”
Coby White scored 26 points for the Bulls (23-27). Nikola Vucevic had 24 points and 12 rebounds. DeMar DeRozan had 24 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
The Kings led by 19 at the half and went up by 30 early in the third quarter before the Bulls rallied to cut the deficit to three, but Fox scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to help Sacramento hold on for the win.
“I told our guys at halftime,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “I said, ‘Hey, look, they’re a desperate team.’ First of all, they’re in the NBA, so they’re a good team and they’re a desperate team because we kind of had our way in the first half. Usually when you have a team that’s desperate, that’s talented, that’s well coached, they’re going to make a run. We had guys who just made plays down the stretch.”
Fox scored 10 points in the first six minutes to help the Kings build an early 18-12 advantage. They went up 27-17 later in the first quarter and led 32-25 at the end of the opening period.
Sacramento’s bench helped the Kings extend their lead in the second quarter. Monk scored 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting in his first 11 minutes while Lyles scored 15 points on 5-of-5 shooting from 3-point range in his first 12 minutes as the Kings opened up a 61-43 lead.
Sacramento led 71-52 at the halftime break. The Kings shot 62.2% from the field while holding the Bulls to 43.2%. Fox finished the first half with 22 points, his 18th 20-point half of the season. Lyles set a career high with five 3-point goals in a half.
The Kings continued to pour it on at the start of the second half. They went up by 30 before the running of the Bulls began. Chicago ended the third quarter with a 29-9 run and kept coming in the fourth, cutting Sacramento’s lead to 116-113 on a basket by Vucevic.
The Bulls had all the momentum, but the Kings had Fox. He scored 10 points over the final 4:04, hitting a 3-pointer from 30 feet, a driving layup and five of his last six free-throw attempts.
Brown was mindful of the occasion, too, lauding Fox for all his achievements and the blessings in his life.
“I tell you, man, he’s got a beautiful family,” Brown said. “We’ve got a lot of great guys on this team and he’s one of them. When you’re able to get to know somebody and really see how they are as a person like Foxy is, you just want success for him and his family more than anything else because he’s earned it and he’s definitely deserving.
“You always say you want good things to happen to good people, and he’s for sure in that category. Beautiful, beautiful wife and an extended family that’s beautiful, and obviously baby Reign is the center of attention around all that, so I’m very, very happy for those guys and I hope he continues to get his flowers.”
Fox, who became an All-Star and an All-NBA selection for the first time last season as the Kings made the playoffs for the first time since 2006, said he still wants more.
“I like where I am in life, especially off the court,” Fox said. “I think we’re doing a great job just raising our family, but on the court we want to continue to get better. Obviously, we made the playoffs last year, so a lot of things came together, but now as a team we’re on to bigger and better things. We want to be a better team. We want to be a team that’s competing for championships year in and year out, so we’re continuing to grow together and just trying to be better one day at a time.”
Defending DeRozan
Before the game, Brown was asked about the challenge of defending a player like DeRozan, a six-time All-Star and three-time All-NBA selection.
“Very seldom do you give players like that, who can score the ball at a high clip, especially when they get to their sweet spots, very seldom do you give them the same look,” Brown said. “And so, for us, we’re going to try to throw different bodies at him and throw different coverages at him and see how the game goes.
“If there’s something that works, we’ll stick with it for a while, and then when he figures it out, we’ll try to go to something else. But there’s really no black-and-white answer ... to stop him. You just want him to work very hard for his buckets, and you hope not many other people step up and have big games while you’re trying to pay attention to him.”
DeRozan went 5 of 14 from the field but converted 14 of 15 free-throw attempts.
Zach LaVine injury update
The Bulls announced Saturday that two-time All-Star Zach LaVine will undergo season-ending surgery to repair his right foot.
The team said the decision was made after seeking additional medical opinions in consultation with LaVine, Klutch Sports Group and Bulls training and medical staff. LaVine is expected to have surgery in the coming days and will be out four to six months.
Up next
The Kings will conclude a season-long seven-game, 13-day, 7,000-mile road trip when they visit the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday.
The Cavaliers (30-16) have won five in a row and 13 of 14 after beating the San Antonio Spurs 117-101 on Saturday. That stretch includes two wins over the Milwaukee Bucks and one over the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Cavaliers are fourth in the Eastern Conference. They rank third in the NBA in scoring defense, holding opponents to 109.8 points per game. Cleveland is led by Donovan Mitchell, who is averaging 28.1 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.4 assists.
