Fox, Sabonis lead Kings to win over Knicks in front of national audience

Mar 9, 2023, 11:46 PM | Updated: Mar 10, 2023, 12:52 am

(Nate Littlefield/Sactown Sports 1140)

Editor & Kings Beat Writer

Fans in the Sacramento area have watched De’Aaron Fox put on a show in the fourth quarter many times this season, but the All-Star guard gave a national audience a performance to remember on Thursday night.

Fox scored 15 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, Domantas Sabonis secured his second-straight triple-double, and the Kings pulled out a 122-117 win over the New York Knicks in front of a sold-out Golden 1 Center and millions of viewers tuned in on TNT.

Sacramento improved to 39-26 on the season, giving the franchise its most wins in a single season during the 16-year playoff drought (tying the team’s 39-43 finish in 2018-19).

With 17 games remaining in the regular season, the ‘Beam Team’ is on track to secure a first-round playoff berth and send the city of Sacramento into an absolute frenzy once the team officially clinches in the coming weeks.

The @SacramentoKings All-Star duo was special in a thriller vs. NYK!

Domas 👑 24 PTS, 13 REB, 10 AST
Swipa 👑 23 PTS, 7 AST, 4 STL pic.twitter.com/jwgmVlREfz

— NBA (@NBA) March 10, 2023

Much like they did in their only other nationally televised game this season back on November 15th, the Kings jumped out to an early double-digit lead thanks to an explosive first half from Malik Monk (17 points on six-of-seven shooting).

Even though the Knicks got 19 points over 19 minutes from guard Jalen Brunson, New York struggled offensively as Sacramento held its opponent to 35 percent shooting from the field and 25 percent from beyond the arc during the first half. Leading by 16 to open up the third quarter put the Kings in the driver’s seat, but it wouldn’t be that easy on Thursday night.

Brunson (foot soreness) was ruled out at the break, but the Knicks didn’t let the loss of its starting guard phase them as they started chipping away at Sacramento’s 21-point lead.

Defensive rebounding plagued the Kings all night long, as New York controlled the glass on their end of the floor and created second-chance opportunities at will. Mitchell Robinson and Josh Hart corralled multiple offensive boards against Sacramento’s sluggish defense.

By the end of the night, the Knicks had pulled down 23 offensive rebounds (the Kings finished the night with six). Thanks to the second-chance opportunities, Sacramento’s lead evaporated, and a once-comfortable lead was reduced to just three points with 10 minutes remaining in regulation.

Then, it was time for Fox to do what he does best: Close.

Fox, who had scored eight points over 20 minutes of playing time through the first three quarters, racked up 11 points during the first three minutes of the fourth to help create some space on the scoreboard–and doing so with some fiery emotion.

Angry De'Aaron Fox is something else.pic.twitter.com/A3kbmY2s50

— Frankie Cartoscelli (@FCartoscelli3) March 10, 2023

The first-time All-Star finished the fourth with 15 points on five-of-seven shooting from the field and brought his final line to 23 points, seven assists, and four steals over 30 minutes of action.

With Fox putting on another show in the fourth, Sacramento locked in on the defensive end down the stretch and held the Knicks scoreless from the 4:11 mark to the 1:54 mark while increasing its lead to nine. Although New York did its best to make things interesting late, the Kings created the space they needed and pulled out another big win in the race for home-court advantage.

At this point in the season, teams will take wins how they can get them, but Kings head coach Mike Brown let his team hear it following the game after Sacramento got outplayed on the glass.

“That’s not how we should be playing basketball. I am not happy with the way that we played tonight,” Brown said of the Kings’ effort on Thursday.

“23 offensive rebounds. Happy about the win, but that does not sit well with me at all. If we don’t fix that, we’re going to get our behinds kicked come playoff time. That’s when the big boys show up.”

"Our guys found a way to get the win, but we were not good."

🗣 Even in the win, Mike Brown expects more from the Kings. pic.twitter.com/24nHatPFBV

— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) March 10, 2023

“It’s a good win, our guys found a way to get the win, but we were not good,” Brown continued.

“Josh Hart kicked our ass. Nobody put a body on him the entire night. We didn’t get a chance to get out in transition, so they had us playing a walk-it-up paced game. They were the ones that got out in transition.”

New York set the tone in the second half, outscoring the Kings 64-53, but Sacramento’s strong start was the difference in this game. The Knicks, a team that entered play as the fourth-best rebounding team in the league, had a field day on the glass (58-42), but the Kings did a good job of keeping the lead no matter how close New York got.

“We were able to get key stops and execute down the stretch,” Fox said of Sacramento’s late-game execution. “Even though we had a big lead that we gave away, we were able to maintain it late and stop [New York’s] run.”

Fox and Sabonis came up huge once again for the Kings, as the latter racked up his NBA-leading 53rd double-double of the season and his ninth triple-double (third in the NBA).

By posting 24 points (nine-of-15 shooting), 13 rebounds, and 10 assists during the win, Sabonis tied DeMarcus Cousins’ single-season Sacramento-era record of 53 double-doubles and became just the fourth center in NBA history to tally 27 career triple-doubles.

The Knicks struggled to contain the three-time All-Star, and he was a difference-maker down the stretch on both ends of the floor.

DOMAS CLUTCH CHASEDOWN on TNT! pic.twitter.com/w3O7FaVyLx

— NBA (@NBA) March 10, 2023

Thursday’s win was noteworthy for a few reasons, but none more critical than Sacramento’s place in the Western Conference standings.

With 17 games to go, the Kings improved to six games over the sixth-seed Warriors and 5.5 games over the fifth-seed Los Angeles Clippers, putting themselves in a solid position to secure home-court advantage in the first round of the NBA Playoffs if they can finish the season playing .500 basketball.

The winning effort was also witnessed by countless NBA fans watching around the world on TNT’s broadcast, something that Sacramento will have to get used to as the postseason approaches.

“At this point, it only seems like we play New York teams on [national] TV,” Fox joked when asked about his feeling towards playing in front of a national audience. “Once we get to the playoffs, every game is going to be like that anyways.”

Progress is essential for teams like the Kings, who have not made the postseason in a league-record 16-straight seasons. Games like Thursday are a step in the right direction, and this franchise has taken its fair share of those during what has been a season for the books.

“It’s big for the organization and the city,” Fox said of the opportunity to show the rest of the basketball world what this team is capable of. “I think people know about the Sacramento crowd, but people on the East coast are sleeping when we’re playing. For people to experience this on national TV was huge for this city. This is just a special place to play.”

De’Aaron Fox. 14 points in the 4th. Closer. pic.twitter.com/02nTW8aVWM

— Frankie Cartoscelli (@FCartoscelli3) March 10, 2023

Notes

Malik Monk finished the night with 19 points on six-of-ten shooting from the field, five assists, and five rebounds over 19 minutes.
Trey Lyles turned in another strong performance off the bench, scoring 16 points (four-of-seven shooting) to go along with six boards.
Keegan Murray added 11 points on two-of-five from beyond the arc, bringing himself within 32 three-point field goals of tying Donovan Mitchell’s rookie record (187).
Kevin Huerter chipped in with 14 points over 31 minutes.

Next Game

Sacramento will play against a Phoenix Suns team without Kevin Durant (ankle) as the two Pacific Divison foes will go head-to-head in a game with massive postseason implications.

Phoenix can help close the gap between themselves and the second-seed Kings with a win, while Sacramento can give itself more breathing room as the season gets closer to its conclusion.

Be sure to get all of your Kings vs. Suns coverage right here on Sactown Sports 1140 beginning at 4:30 PM PST on Game Night with Scott Marsh and Henry ‘The High Flyer’ Turner before a 6:00 PM PST tip-off from downtown Phoenix.