Fox, Bagley Combine For 53 Points As Kings Claim Second-Straight Win
Jan 14, 2022, 9:46 PM | Updated: 10:59 pm
(Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
(Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
Sacramento has won two-straight games as they move back into the 10th spot in the West standings
Sacramento Kings fans have longed to see it: “The De’Aaron Fox & Marvin Bagley III Show”.
The young duo put forth their greatest simultaneous performance since the two became teammates in 2018 to help lead the Sacramento Kings past the Houston Rockets by a final of 126-114 at Golden 1 Center on Friday night.
Fox and Bagley combined to score POINT points in what was a fun night for the former top-five picks–a performance that fans had envisioned since Bagley was drafted second-overall back in the summer of 2018.
With the win, Sacramento (18-27) secured its second-straight victory and has pulled themselves into a tie for the 10th spot in the Western Conference Standings.
Houston jumped all over the Kings early in the first quarter as Christian Wood (15 points in the first) helped put Sacramento in a 29-18 hole before fans could completely settle into their seats.
De’Aaron Fox matched Wood’s performance with 15 points (the most points that Fox has scored in a quarter this season) of his own, but the Sacramento defense looked as horrible as ever to let the Rockets take a 40-31 lead into the second period.
While Fox was feeling it in the first, Terence Davis found his touch during the second quarter as the young guard scored eight-straight points to bring the Kings to within a point. Behind Davis, Fox and solid play from Marvin Bagley III, Sacramento ended the half on a 19-4 run to take a 65-60 lead into the break.
Fox, Davis and Bagley continued to push the pace in the third quarter as the Kings built a 98-89 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Bagley’s 20th point of the night followed by a triple from Harrison Barnes helped give Sacramento a commanding 108-91 lead with 8:32 remaining to all but put this one away.
Following a tough first period, the defense did not allow Houston to get what they wanted on the offensive end for the final three quarters. After allowing 40 points in the first, the Kings did not allow the Rockets to top the 29-point mark in the final three periods of play.
On a day that trade rumors surrounding the star guard made headlines around the basketball world, Fox showed exactly what he is capable of on a nightly basis during Friday night’s game.
Fox finished the night with 27 points on 11-of-18 shooting from the field (two-of-four from three-point range), six rebounds, eight assists and two steals over 36 minutes of play to put an exclamation point on an eventful day.
Bagley secured his fourth double-double of the season on Friday as the young forward finished with a season-high 26 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks on 12-of-20 shooting from the field over 33 minutes.
While it was only one game, it’s hard to not be impressed by what Fox, Bagley and the Kings displayed on Friday night. Instead of rolling over after a bad opening quarter, the defense hunkered down while the offense exploded (most points scored in a game since December 8th vs Orlando and season-high 33 assists as a team).
I’ve said it before and I will say it again–wins are wins.
The Sacramento Kings cannot discriminate the validity of wins. They need every single win that they can get, and Friday night’s performance was exactly what they needed to continue the climb out of the hole that was dug during the recent five-game skid.
If this team wants to get back into the mix for a postseason spot, this two-game winning-streak needs to act as an example of what needs to be done in order to fulfill the front office’s goal of playing basketball past the early days of April.
Rounding Out The Box Score
Tyrese Haliburton stuffed the stat-sheet with nine points, six boards, 12 assists and just one turnover as the sophomore guard just narrowly missed another double-double performance.
It was the fourth-straight game with eight assists or more for the 21-year-old as his table-setting presence continues to grow by each passing game–no pun intended.
Buddy Hield converted four of his 10 three-point attempts to finish with 19 points, while Harrison Barnes scored 16 points to go along with nine rebounds and six assists in the win.
Terence Davis provided the Kings with a huge boost in the first half as the guard scored 11 of his 14 points before the halftime break.
Injury Updates
- Richaun Holmes (Return to competition conditioning) was listed as questionable prior to Friday’s game before being ruled out shortly before tip-off. Holmes is still in the process of getting into game-shape and is likely to return in the very near future.
- Damian Jones tested out of the league’s COVID-19 Health & Safety protocols on Friday. Although Jones has rejoined the team, he was inactive vs Houston and is considered day-to-day as–like Holmes–he gets back into game-shape.
- Robert Woodard II remains in the league’s COVID-19 Health & Safety protocols. Woodard can return to game action after registering successive negative COVID-19 tests 24 hours apart.
- Tristan Thompson was listed as questionable due to a non-COVID illness prior to tip-off before eventually being ruled out for the third-straight game. Thompson is considered day-to-day.
- Kings assistant coach Doug Christie entered Health & Safety protocols on Friday.
Coming Up
Sacramento and Houston will run it back on Sunday afternoon for a matinee showdown at Golden 1 Center.
Be sure to get all of your all of your Kings vs Rockets coverage right here on Sports 1140 KHTK beginning at 1:30pm PST on Game Night with Scott Marsh and Henry ‘The High Flyer’ Turner prior to an early 3:00pm PST tip-off from downtown Sacramento.
Upcoming Sacramento Kings Schedule
- January 14th vs Houston Rockets
- January 16th vs Houston Rockets
- January 19th vs Detroit Pistons
- January 22nd @ Milwaukee Bucks
- January 25th @ Boston Celtics
