Kings race past Spurs to win fifth in a row. Coach Mike Brown says beam is ‘coolest thing’
Coach Gregg Popovich and his pesky San Antonio Spurs kept the game close for the better part of three quarters Thursday night, but then the Kings decided it was time to power the lasers and light the beam.
Davion Mitchell’s defense and Sacramento’s burgeoning firepower helped the Kings pull away to win again, this time beating the Spurs 130-112 before a crowd of 16,522 at Golden 1 Center.
Fans chanted “Light the beam” and “SAC-RA-MENTO” as the Kings ran out the clock in the final minute. After the game, Kings coach Mike Brown admitted he was skeptical when team owner Vivek Ranadive first told him about the new victory beam atop the arena, but now Brown says the beam is a beautiful thing.
“It’s kind of like some of Vivek’s sayings that he has told me already. I thought it was corny at first,” Brown joked. “I was like, ‘Light the beam?’ What?’ But it is really fricking cool.
“I love it. I’m still trying to see if I can see it out in El Dorado Hills. We’ve got to get a stronger beam so I can see it from my back porch before I go to bed, but, wow, it’s a really, really, really neat, but simple idea, and it’s catchy. I saw something where TD (Terence Davis) lit the beam the other day, and I was like, ‘Man, that is absolutely the coolest thing in the world.’”
Brown went on to say Kings Chief Operating Officer Matina Kolokotronis should reward whoever created the beam. Ranadive told NBC Sports California’s Tom Dierberger the brainchild behind the beam was John Rinehart, the team’s president of business operations.
“Please give them a raise or at least two weeks off, one of the two,” Brown said, “because it’s fricking fantastic.”
De’Aaron Fox had 28 points on 11-of-15 shooting with eight assists and zero turnovers for the Kings (8-6), who have won five in a row and eight of their last 10. Fox finished with a plus-36 rating in 32 minutes of work.
Sacramento had its last five-game winning streak in 2020-21. The Kings haven’t won eight of 10 since 2005-06, the last time they made the playoffs, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. They haven’t won six in a row since 2004-05, but they’ll have a chance to do that when they play host to the Detroit Pistons on Sunday.
Malik Monk, Fox’s former Kentucky teammate, came off the bench to score 26 points on 11-of-19 shooting with four 3-pointers. Harrison Barnes and Domantas Sabonis both had 16 points and eight rebounds. Trey Lyles added 14 points and Chimezie Metu had 10.
Devin Vassell scored 29 points for the Spurs (6-10), who tied the game five times but never took the lead.
The Kings have averaged 130.0 points per game during their current winning streak. They have scored 120 points or more in five consecutive games for the first time since Oscar Robertson was on the team in 1969-70, back when they were known as the Cincinnati Royals.
“We’re definitely exceeding what I thought we could do offensively,” Brown said. “That’s not a knock to the guys. I thought we would be good offensively, but some of the numbers we’ve put up, when I see it, I just keep shaking my head. I’m like, ‘OK, wow, when’s it going to end?’”
Brown knows this torrid pace can’t go on forever. That’s why he spent so much time praising Mitchell, who is a menace as an on-ball defender.
“I tell you what, the game changed because of Davion,” Brown said. “His defense, especially down the stretch in that second half, was unbelievable, unbelievable. I’ve been in the league 31 years, I think, now, and there’s only two players I can think of that, when they pick up full court, nobody wants to dribble up against them. Obviously, we saw that from Davion tonight, and then GP2 (Gary Payton II). These guys, to be able to put that type of pressure on the ball, especially in a full-court setting, is unbelievable. I still can’t wrap my head around it, but Davion’s defense changed the game tonight.”
Mitchell’s teammates agreed.
“I told Davion he started the run,” Monk said. “He started everything with the defensive pressure. Me and fox had to pick his defensive pressure up, and the whole team just rose.”
The Kings picked up where they left off in Tuesday’s 153-121 annihilation of the Brooklyn Nets in a nationally televised game on TNT. They outscored the Spurs 12-2 to start the game and led 22-6 midway through the first quarter. The Kings shot 50% from the field and knocked down 6 of 13 (.462) from 3-point range in the opening period, but they didn’t defend well enough in the first half to put the Spurs away early.
San Antonio trailed by nine at the end of the first quarter and seven at the half. The Spurs kept coming in the third quarter, tying the game on a three-point play by Jeremy Sochan. The game was tied again late in the third before Fox hit back-to-back midrange jumpers and Monk buried a big 3-pointer, giving the Kings an 89-82 lead going into the fourth quarter.
That was the beginning of the end. The Kings outscored the Spurs 21-10 to start the fourth quarter and then it was time to light the beam.
“The pace they play at is really tough to guard,” Popovich said. “They’re physical on defense. They’re just a better basketball team and they’re really buying into what Mike’s trying to do. I think they’re just going to get better and better.”
This story was originally published November 18, 2022 at 12:23 AM.
