Kings notebook: Hornets blaze past Kings as Fox and Co. fall flat in fourth quarter
The Kings were as close to full strength Tuesday night as they have been since opening night. Not that it seemed to matter.
De’Aaron Fox returned to the floor for his first game since suffering a sprained ankle in practice Nov. 11 but a late-game barrage of Charlotte 3-pointers led to a 110-102 Hornets win.
It wasn’t destined to be a double-digit loss. The Kings trailed by four with eight minutes to go but Devonte’ Graham hit a pair of 3-pointers and his teammates added buckets of their own as the Hornets extended their lead to as much as 12 points down the stretch.
Kings coach Luke Walton said before the game Fox was going to have his playing time limited. Fox didn’t start but he was still a spark plug for the offense, finishing with 19 points. He also had eight assists, helping five other teammates rack up double-digit scoring nights of their own.
Buddy Hield had little to celebrate on his 27th birthday, scoring only 14 points. He had eight points in the final minute, with the outcome already decided.
The Kings’ offense was off all night as the Kings hit 40.7% of their shots from the floor and hit 13 of 39 3-point tries.
The fourth quarter proved to be the Kings’ undoing. Sacramento trailed Charlotte by just a point after the third quarter and traded the lead with the Hornets for the first few minutes of the fourth quarter.
Then the Kings’ offense fell flat while Charlotte heated up. The Hornets outscored the Kings 30-20 in the final stanza.
It wasn’t the only time the Kings looked out of sync. The first half was rough for the Kings offense. Sacramento shot below 30 percent from 3-point range until Fox hit a pair of long shots and Hield added another to close out the second quarter. The Kings shot 6 of 18 3-point shots in the first half.
When he wasn’t making shots early, Fox still made things happened. In one first quarter sequence, he drove the lane, missed a bunny but grabbed his rebound and flicked it in one motion to Harrison Barnes, who hit a wide-open 3-pointer. Fox had 11 points and six assists in the first half to lead all Kings scorers.
Three-for-all
Charlotte fans got a close look at some of the NBA’s elite 3-point shooters Tuesday night.
While Houston’s James Harden held the lead with 135 made 3-pointers this season, Charlotte’s Devonte Graham was in second with 108. Hield had 102 makes, good for third on the list. Washington’s Davis Bertans had 96; they are the only four players with 90 or more 3-pointers.
Happy returns
Hield, Fox, Marvin Bagley III and Bogdan Bogdanovic should be getting used to Charlotte by now. The four Kings stalwarts took part in All-Star Weekend here in February.
Fox, Bogdanovic and Bagley impressed in the Rising Stars game. Fox also competed in the Skills Challenge. And Hield reached the finals in the 3-Point Contest.
Only one other time in franchise history have the Kings sent four players to All-Star Weekend. That was 2002, when Chris Webber and Peja Stojakovic were selected for the All-Star Game, Stojakovic won the 3-Point Contest, Hedo Turkoglu appeared in the Rising Stars game and Gerald Wallace competed in the Slam Dunk contest.
Speaking of reunions: UK pride
The thing about playing college basketball at Kentucky is there’s always a familiar face. Or faces. Charlotte’s Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Malik Monk and P.J. Washington all played at Kentucky in recent years. So did Sacramento’s Fox and Wenyen Gabriel.
Monk, Fox and Gabriel all played together in 2016-17 while Gabriel and Washington were together in 2017-18. The outlier: Kidd-Gilchrist, who is five years older than the youngsters.
Kings upcoming schedule
Dec. 17 at Charlotte Hornets, 4 p.m.
Dec. 20 at Indiana Pacers, 4 p.m.
Dec. 21 at Memphis Grizzlies, 5 p.m.
Dec. 23 vs. Houston Rockets, 7 p.m.
Dec. 26 vs. Minnesota Timberwolves, 7 p.m.