DiVincenzo starts, Fox finishes, new dad Sabonis returns in Kings’ win over Chicago Bulls
Interim coach Alvin Gentry has been reluctant to put Donte DiVincenzo in his starting lineup since the Kings acquired him in a four-team trade involving the Milwaukee Bucks, but Gentry liked what he saw Monday night against the Chicago Bulls.
The Kings were missing Justin Holiday and Jeremy Lamb, but DiVincenzo started in place of Holiday, new dad Domantas Sabonis returned after missing two games and De’Aaron Fox put the finishing touches on a 112-103 victory over the Bulls at Golden 1 Center.
Fox had 34 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Kings (25-45), who had lost four in a row and nine of 11. Fox posted his third consecutive 30-point game and his fourth in the past five games, a stretch that has included two 40-point performances.
Sabonis posted 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists after missing Wednesday’s loss to the Denver Nuggets due to a one-game suspension and Saturday’s game against the Utah Jazz due to the birth of his first child. Davion Mitchell came off the bench to score 16 points.
DiVincenzo had 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists. He also did a good job defensively against DeMar DeRozan and, at times, Zach LaVine, who combined to go 15 of 35 from the field.
“He played great,” Sabonis said of DiVincenzo. “He adapted well, did his job on defense — what he’s known for — and then on offense, he took his shots, great shots, didn’t force anything. He was awesome today.”
LaVine scored 27 points to lead the Bulls (41-27), but he went 8 of 18 from the field and 2 of 7 from 3-point range. Nikola Vucevic had 23 points and 10 rebounds. DeRozan was held to 21 points on 7-of-17 shooting.
Gentry credited DiVincenzo for his “crash zone” rebounding and his work against DeRozan, a five-time All-Star who is averaging a career-high 28.1 points on 50.5% shooting.
“I thought it was his best game by far,” Gentry said when asked about DiVincenzo. “… I thought he was really good defensively. That’s about as good a job as you’re going to do on DeRozan, which is kind of crazy because he still put up numbers, but I didn’t think we could play him any better than we did.”
Sacramento acquired DiVincenzo from the Bucks in the four-team trade that sent Marvin Bagley III to the Detroit Pistons. Kings general manager Monte McNair previously tried to acquire DiVincenzo in a sign-and-trade deal that would have sent Bogdan Bogdanovic to the Bucks prior to the 2020-21 season, but that deal unraveled after the Bucks were caught in a tampering investigation.
Gentry was asked how the Kings organization sees DiVincenzo as a potential long-term fit next to Fox. DiVincenzo, a 25-year-old guard from Villanova who started 66 games for the Bucks in 2020-21, will be a restricted free agent this summer.
“All I can say is that we traded for him twice, so obviously we like him and we like what he brings to the table,” Gentry said. “I think it’s just a matter of fitting in and figuring it out. … I think he’s a hard-nosed kid. One thing about him, you go around the league and look at the Villanova kids, and they’re all well prepared for the NBA and they’re tough kids. They guard and the physicality of the game doesn’t bother them.”
Gentry elected to start DiVincenzo at shooting guard with Holiday and Lamb both unavailable. Holiday was ruled out with a non-COVID-19 illness. Lamb was out due to personal reasons.
DiVincenzo quickly made his presence felt, using quick hands, quick feet and quick reads to impact the game at both ends of the floor. He set the tone early in the first quarter when he poked the ball away from Ayo Dosunmu, came away with a steal and dished to Sabonis for a dunk. He got involved in another highlight-reel play in the second period when he ran out in transition off a turnover, took a pass from Chimezie Metu and lobbed it back to Metu for an alley-oop.
The Kings led 63-43 at the break after playing one of their best halves of the season. They shot 48% from the field while holding the Bulls to 36.6%. They also amassed a 28-21 rebounding advantage, came up with seven steals and forced two shot-clock violations.
The Kings were up 88-77 at the end of the third quarter. The Bulls cut the deficit to one with 8:17 to play in the fourth, but Fox and DiVincenzo helped Sacramento take control down the stretch. Fox made a driving layup on an assist from DiVincenzo and DiVincenzo drained a 3-pointer on an assist from Fox, giving the Kings the separation they needed to fend off one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
Fox scored 18 points in the second half, continuing a run of impressive performances. Over the past 15 games, he has averaged 29.5 points and 6.7 assists while shooting 51.4% from the field and 39.5% from 3-point range.
“I think De’Aaron is playing so well right now and he’s doing an extremely good job of controlling the game,” Gentry said. “Night in and night out, I think he’s playing as well as anybody in the league. Not (just) any guard. I think he’s playing as well as anyone in the league over the last month or so.”
Fox made two free throws with 36.5 seconds remaining. DiVincenzo sank two more with 24.5 seconds to go as a boisterous crowd chanted “Sac-ra-mento” while Bulls fans headed for the exits.
“Confidence is a hell of a thing,” DiVincenzo said. “And I think, not just me, but I’m talking in general from top to bottom, I thought we came out tonight and played with a lot of confidence.”
After the game, DiVincenzo was asked about his future with the Kings and his level of comfort as a starter versus coming off the bench.
“It’s just like an energy thing, like a routine thing for me, but whenever my number is called, whether it’s coming off the bench, whether it’s starting, for me, it’s always just, I’ve got to be ready,” DiVincenzo said. “My mindset is, my energy is contagious for this team and my attitude is contagious for this team, so that’s what I try to focus on coming in every day, whether I’m starting or coming off the bench, playing 15 minutes or playing 35. It doesn’t matter to me. If I can control that and give confidence to guys like Davion Mitchell, who played out of his mind tonight on both ends, that’s the stuff I need to focus on going into the offseason.”
This story was originally published March 15, 2022 at 2:07 AM.
