Not LeBron James But De’Aaron Fox This Time As Suns Fans Reacts With A Showdown..
De’Aaron Fox has produced some big fourth-quarter finishes over the course of his career, but nothing quite like this. Fox scored a career-high 23 points in the fourth to lift the Kings to a 114-106 victory over the Phoenix Suns before a crowd of 17,071 at Footprint Center.
Suns fans headed for the exits after Fox hit a late 3-pointer to set off a chorus of “Light the Beam” chants inside the arena. “Shots just started going in,” Fox said.
“It’s as simple as that. I tried to stay aggressive, teammates were getting me open with screens, and we were getting matchups we liked.”
Kings center Domantas Sabonis said the Kings’ fourth-quarter altercation with Suns center Jusuf Nurkic might have lit a fire under Fox, who finished with 34 points and seven assists despite a quiet start.
“You can’t really poke the bear,” Sabonis said. “When you do, he’s going to come out and fight and compete.”
Sabonis had 15 points, 17 rebounds and five assists for the Kings (12-8), who bounced back from a loss to the New Orleans Pelicans in the in-season tournament quarterfinals.
Sasha Vezenkov came off the bench to score 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Keegan Murray and Malik Monk added 13 points apiece.
After three quarters, Fox had 11 points on 5-of-15 shooting. He was 1 of 4 from 3-point range with zero free-throw attempts. In the fourth quarter, Fox could not be stopped. He went 6 of 9 from the field, 3 of 3 from beyond the arc and 8 of 10 at the foul line.
“That’s his time,” Suns coach Frank Vogel said. “He is one of the best in the league in crunch time and in the fourth, and we also threw a number of different coverages out there at him.
And a lot of times, the ball finds Sabonis, who is another elite playmaker, and they’ve got shooting all over the floor, so that is a big reason why they were one of the best teams in the West last year.
We weren’t able to slow down the rest of the guys while trying to slow down Fox.”
The Kings outrebounded the Suns 50-40. They grabbed 15 offensive rebounds, resulting in a 16-6 advantage in second-chance points. “Big win for us,” Kings coach Mike Brown said.
“Especially after our last outing, and that’s what I told the guys. The neat thing about the NBA is the next game is coming quickly and you’ve got to be able to move on from whatever you just went through whether it’s good or bad, so for our guys to come in here and find a way to get a win was really good.”
Devin Booker had 28 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for the Suns (12-10). Phoenix was missing two of its best players after Kevin Durant (ankle) and Bradley Beal (back) were ruled out due to injuries, but Booker carried them early.