Kings lose after huge comeback against Suns, but maybe they found the real De’Aaron Fox
The Kings lost the game after staging a huge comeback against the Phoenix Suns on Monday night at Golden 1 Center, but they might have found the real De’Aaron Fox.
Much of the crowd had already departed after watching the Kings fall all over themselves in the third quarter, but they missed an important show of fourth-quarter resiliency from Fox and friends in a 109-104 loss to the Suns.
“When I went back in, I think around nine minutes (remaining) or something like that, I was just telling them, ‘Let’s make this a game,’” Fox said.
The Kings (5-6) followed their leader, storming back from a 21-point deficit over the final 8:28 to give themselves a chance to tie the game in the frantic final seconds against the Suns (6-3). Fox didn’t do it alone, but he took control, scoring 12 points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field and 6-of-8 shooting from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter. He also had an assist, a rebound, a steal and a big blocked shot, engaging at both ends of the floor in a way that made him one of the NBA’s most dangerous fourth-quarter assassins last season.
Over the first seven games this season, Fox went 47 of 129 (.364) from the field, 6 of 39 (.153) from 3-point range and 24 of 38 (.631) at the free-throw line, but he’s showing signs of life. Over the last four games, he has made 30 of 67 field-goal attempts, 4 of 10 from 3-point range and 17 of 22 free throws, shooting 44.8% from the field, 40% from beyond the arc and 77.3% at the stripe.
“I didn’t know the percentages or anything,” Fox said. “I’m seeing the ball go through the basket a little bit more. That’s all it is.”
Fox didn’t start well against the Suns, who have won five in a row since suffering a 110-107 loss to the Kings on Oct. 27. He went 1 of 4 from the field to start the game and scored only two points in the first quarter, but he came alive in the second, scoring 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including a 3-pointer that gave the Kings a 49-46 lead.
The Kings heard boos on their home floor when they fell behind by 24 in a dreadful third quarter. The Suns opened the second half with a 14-0 run. The Kings went 0 of 8 from the field and committed five turnovers over the first 4:52. They racked up a total of 10 turnovers in the third period. Fox had three. Harrison Barnes, Richaun Holmes and Alex Len each had two.
The play-by-play readout looked something like this: Turnover. Brick. Turnover. Brick. Turnover. Turnover. Brick. The buffoonery was unlike anything we’ve seen this season, just a comedy of errors from the Kings. Sometimes they just threw the ball straight to the Suns. It was ridiculous.
But the Kings wouldn’t quit, a trait that served them well over the first 11 games as they hung with some of the best teams in the league while playing one of the NBA’s toughest schedules to date. Fox checked back into the game with 9:34 to play in the fourth quarter with his team trailing 98-78. He quickly drew a foul, knocked down a pair of free throws and then buried a pull-up jumper, but it was still a 17-point game.
Fox had his next shot blocked by Mikal Bridges and then missed a 12-footer. That felt like the end for Fox given the way he has struggled. The fans felt it, too. There was a mass exodus with 6:41 remaining when almost a third of the announced crowd of 13,566 got out of their seats and headed for the exits, but the fans who remained were going wild within a matter of minutes.
Fox and Barnes led the effort with strong contributions from Damian Jones and Chimezie Metu, who logged a total of five minutes over the first 10 games. The Kings also hit the Suns with a strong dose of Davion Mitchell, who helped hold Phoenix to 4-of-19 shooting with seven turnovers in the fourth quarter.
“D. Jones and Chimezie are always the first people in the gym,” Mitchell said. “They’re always ready. They’re always working on their game, even when they’re not playing. … Just being ready, staying ready.”
This was a night when the Kings needed that energy from the end of their bench, but they need more from Fox, the franchise player who is in the first year of a five-year, $163 million max contract. They need him to be who he was in the fourth quarter Monday night.
Fox kept attacking, drew another foul, made two more free throws and got out in transition for a driving layup, cutting the deficit to 15 with 5:58 remaining. Jones and Barnes made plays to start another run for Sacramento. Fox did, too, probing, processing and penetrating, repeatedly attacking the paint.
Fox scored again at the 4:02 mark and converted two more free throws with 2:36 to go, cutting Phoenix’s lead to five. He missed his next two free throws with 35.3 seconds left, crucial misses that proved costly.
The Kings would get within three on a dunk by Barnes with 9.7 seconds remaining. They had a chance to tie the game after Devin Booker missed a pair of free throws with 8.1 seconds left, but Fox admittedly misread what could have been a wide-open dunk for Metu, resulting in Sacramento’s 24th and final turnover of the night.
Kings coach Luke Walton said he drew the play up that way, hoping for a quick basket, knowing he still had a timeout to extend the game.
“It was just miscommunication,” Fox said. “I told him that was my fault.”
The Kings lost the game, but maybe they gained something more important with a stretch of winnable road games coming up against the San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, Detroit Pistons and Minnesota Timberwolves.
“We want to hang on and feel what it felt like to just get pretty much punked out there in that third quarter because that didn’t feel good for anyone, including the fans in the building,” Walton said. “Nobody enjoyed that and that should hurt. We should hold onto that, and we should also focus on the intensity we played with in the fourth and how we used the pressure they were applying to our advantage.”
The game was already lost during that dreadful third quarter, but Fox felt there was still something to gain in the fourth.
“When I went back in the game, I just thought to myself, ‘We can’t lose this game like this,’” Fox said. “As a team, we’ve been playing well these first 10 games. I just wanted to make this a game and I think we did that.”
This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
