Fox takes over in fourth quarter to carry Kings past Nuggets; Monk says ‘it’s about time’
The Kings went into Wednesday’s game in Denver after losing four of their last five. They were playing the last game of a three-game road trip against Western Conference contenders, on the second night of a back-to-back, and it was the last game before the All-Star break. They looked like a team ready for a week off.
But they had one more opportunity to get back on course and improve the vibes before getting away from basketball. They had a chance to improve their record against the defending champion Denver Nuggets to 3-0 on the season. And given how the game went, they had a chance to win in an unconventional way.
“Sometimes you gotta win ugly,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “And you just gotta find a way. In the second half, we picked up our defense, we made a couple of shots. ... So we just kept trying to find ways to get it done.”
The Kings won 102-98, giving them their lowest-scoring victory of the season. De’Aaron Fox scored 15 points in the fourth quarter, including his team’s last 10, capping a second half in which Sacramento outscored Denver 61-45, leaving the fans frustrated as they exited Ball Arena before the final buzzer.
“It’s definitely big to be able to get a win like this,” Fox said. “At this point, for the rest of the season, especially in the West (where) everybody’s fighting for seeding. We’re trying to get out of the play-in, doing whatever you possibly can to move up in seeding. So every game really, really, really matters, especially when you’re playing so many Western Conference teams where you can make up a full-game gap.”
Fox finished with 30 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Domantas Sabonis added 20 points and 13 rebounds, extending his historic double-double streak. Harrison Barnes poured in 20 points with a team-leading three 3-pointers. The Nuggets were missing two starters, including their second-best player in Jamal Murray and one of their best defenders in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
Both teams were hovering around 40% shooting throughout the game. Aaron Gordon, known more for his defense and secondary scoring, paced the Nuggets with 25 points. Michael Porter Jr. had 19.
“We’re known for being an offensive team, not a defensive team,” Sabonis said. “And we did it with defense late in the game. Both teams were kind of tired today. It was kind of sloppy on both ends, but we just needed to win.”
The Kings outscored Denver 13-5 over the final 2:38 of the game following a 3 from Barnes. The stretch included four straight defensive stops and a slew of buckets from Fox.
Two-time MVP Nikola Jokic had a quiet game for the defending champs. He had 15 points on 6-of-17 shooting with five rebounds and eight assists. Not having Murray, his top running mate, clearly impacted Denver’s offense. They hit the All-Star break losers of three straight. They shot just 39% from the floor.
Jokic hit a right-handed runner to push Denver’s lead to four with 2:52 remaining, which was followed immediately by Barnes’ 3, followed by a Fox scoop layup around Porter after a quick hesitation to give Sacramento the lead. Fox pushed it to 96-93 with a push shot with 1:25 remaining, giving him 24 points.
After a timeout, Fox stripped Reggie Jackson and threw down a left-handed dunk, pushing the lead to five — and then hit another shot, making it a seven-point game with 58.7 seconds to go.
“I’ve been seeing it for a minute,” said Malik Monk, Fox’s longtime friend. “So it’s nothing new to me. But it’s about time. Put that ‘about time’ in quotations and tell him I said that.”
Fox, of course, won last year’s Jerry West Award for being the NBA’s most clutch player. He led the league in clutch scoring and was among the biggest reasons the Kings ended their 16-year playoff drought.
He came into Wednesday ranked seventh in clutch scoring this season. His 15 points in the fourth quarter were his most since dropping 23 in the fourth Dec. 8 in Phoenix.
“I think my teammates, my coaching staff, everybody here puts me in a position to cheer for me and want me to go out there and be able to close games, obviously,” Fox said. “If I’m shooting the ball or we’re in a pick-and-roll, and I just make the right play, they want me to do that.
“When your entire bench, everybody that’s out on the court with you, they have that confidence in you for you to go make a play, I can’t help but have confidence in myself. Sometimes it doesn’t go my way, and that’s fine. But tonight, it went my way and we were able to grind out this win.”
The first half was slow offensively for both teams. The Kings had 11 turnovers and shot just 35% while the Nuggets made 41% of their shots. Fox and Gordon were the game’s only players in double digits. The Kings only had three turnovers after halftime.
Nuggets coach Michael Malone and Jokic were called for technical fouls with 3:59 remaining in the third quarter after Jokic thought he was fouled on a missed layup attempt. It was a key moment in a frame where the Kings outscored Denver 30-21. The Kings went the entire third quarter without committing a turnover after having 11 in the first half.
Sabonis’ double-double marked his 37th in a row. The streak ties him with Kevin Garnett in 2006 and John Stockton in 1989 for the fourth-longest streak since the merger in 1976-77.
For the Nuggets, Murray entered the day listed as questionable and was ruled out two hours beforehand with bilateral tibia inflammation. Murray played 17 minutes in Monday’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks and scored just three points in 17:33. Previously, Murray played 25 minutes and had 12 points when the Nuggets were blown out by the Kings Feb. 9 at Golden 1 Center.
Caldwell-Pope was out with a hamstring injury that he aggravated in Monday’s game. He missed the previous two games, including the game in Sacramento.
The Kings before the game transferred sharpshooting guard Mason Jones from the G League Stockton Kings. Jones’ contract was converted to a two-way contract last week. Jones is known for his 3-point shooting and offensive game, though he isn’t considered an elite athlete at 6-foot-4. Jones led the G League in 3-point field goal percentage at 52.4% before getting called up.
Brown on previous game’s officiating
Brown made it a point after Thursday night’s loss to address the officiating, particularly two calls within the final minute that Brown argued impacted his team’s ability to win the game. Brown said he was curious to see the league’s Last 2 Minute Report on Wednesday.
Turns out the two-minute report found no wrongdoing from the officials. The non-call on Sabonis’ made layup, when he pump faked Devin Booker into the air and Booker appeared to land on him, was deemed the correct no-call. The reasoning: “The resulting contact is marginal and does not affect Sabonis’ ability to enter his shooting motion.”
The other call Brown questioned was Keegan Murray’s foul on Booker before an inbounds pass with 18.1 seconds remaining. Murray clearly grabbed Booker’s jersey as he went to receive the inbounds pass, and Brown argued that the contact was also marginal and didn’t impact his ability to get open.
“I think at the end of the day, I can’t get caught up in it,” Brown said before Wednesday’s game. “I don’t have a clue — obviously I don’t know what they’re talking about based on what they’re saying. I just gotta let it unfold however it unfolds. It’s gonna be subjective.”
Brown said he had not heard from the league since making his comments after Tuesday’s game.
Murray banged up
Brown said Murray landed on someone’s foot midway through the game and played hurt the rest of the way.
“I’m a little concerned about Keegan,” Brown said afterwards. “He took a hard fall, and he just gutted it out. But his body, for a young guy, his body’s banged up pretty good right now. So just knowing that we have these five or six days to get a little rest, and get our feet back underneath us. It starts with Keegan ... and then Foxy and Domas.”
Murray had six points in 34 minutes. After the game, he flew to Indianapolis, where he’s slated to participate in the Rising Stars Challenge. He’ll be the Kings’ only representative at All-Star Weekend after Fox and Sabonis were left off the Western Conference team.
Before the game, Malone wanted it to be known that he was one of the coaches who voted for Sabonis.
Upcoming schedule
Feb. 22 vs. San Antonio Spurs
Feb. 25 at Los Angeles Clippers
Feb. 26 vs. Miami Heat
Feb. 28 at Denver Nuggets
March 1 at Minnesota Timberwolves
