Mike Brown implores Sacramento Kings to ‘get greedy’ in win over Oklahoma City Thunder
Even without All-Star De’Aaron Fox, Kings head coach Mike Brown implored his team to take advantage of their situation on Tuesday.
“I challenged the guys before the game, I said, ‘We gotta get greedy,’” Brown said after the Kings beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 123-117 at the Paycom Center.
Getting greedy meant trying to finish the three-game road trip 3-0 and not settling for 2-1 with Fox in street clothes dealing with a sore left wrist. Brown called on Fox’s teammates to step up.
Many of them did.
Davion Mitchell started in Fox’s place and got off to a hot start, making his first three 3-pointers. He also earned the defensive player of the game chain after drawing a series of offensive fouls while recording a steal and a block. He added knockout blows in the final minute with a pair of key buckets, including a 3, giving him 15 points on the night.
Kevin Huerter scored 20 points for the first time in over a month while tying for a game-high nine assists. Harrison Barnes paced Sacramento’s scoring with 29 points. Domantas Sabonis was a game-high plus-22 in 34 minutes while loading the stat sheet with 22 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists, narrowly missing his eighth triple-double of the season.
“When you’re greedy in situations like this, that means you got a chance to be great,” Brown said. “Our guys came with a little bit of an edge tonight, and they played greedy. That’s what excites me about this team is, knowing what’s at stake and still performing the way they did, getting the win and finishing off this trip the right way.”
The Kings improved to 36-25 and are 11 games over .500 for the first time since the 2004-05 season. They continue to hold the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference and sit 3 ½ games ahead of the fourth-place Phoenix Suns. The Los Angeles Clippers are up next Friday at Golden 1 Center in a grudge match after the Kings handed them a 176-175 loss in an epic double-overtime affair last week at Crypto.com Arena.
Sacramento has been wanting to get Mitchell rolling offensively for some time. His 15 points were the most since Jan. 15. The Kings before Tuesday had gone 1-4 without Fox and his 25.4 points per game this season. In the four losses, Mitchell scored nine, seven, three and 10 points.
Mitchell scored nine points in the first quarter on three 3s that set the tone for the rest of the game.
“Going into the postseason, you kinda learn how to add confidence,” Mitchell said afterwards. “I think tonight, I was just being aggressive. I tried to do it at the end of the game and got some open looks.”
Mitchell put the nail in the Thunder’s coffin when a 20-foot pull-up jumper made it 121-110 with 55 seconds remaining. He added a step-back 3 at the 25.1 mark before Jalen Williams scored two meaningless buckets near the buzzer.
“He’s a guy that’s taken really good shots throughout most of the year,” Brown said of Mitchell. “The thing that I like about Davion, I don’t care what (percentage) he’s shooting from 3, whatever, if he’s open and that ball gets swung to him, he’s going to step and shoot it. And as much as he works on his shot, all he’s gotta do is see one go in. From there, it’s a wrap, because he is a good shooter.”
Mitchell went 3 of 7 from distance and has been below league average, making 32.6% of his 3s coming in. He’s often the Kings’ best perimeter defender, but the Kings get a substantial boost when he pairs scoring with his ability to pressure the ball on the other end.
“Defensively, he does that every single night,” Barnes said. “But, offensively, being able to make shots, especially those last two, those are big for us.”
Mitchell specialized in drawing offensive fouls on Tuesday, including a handful of moving screens and charges. The Kings’ defensive rating for the season is 115.5, but it’s down to 111.3 with Mitchell on the court, which would tie the Bulls for the sixth-best mark in the NBA.
“He stays ready. Every day, he’s in the gym,” Sabonis said of Mitchell. “Every time I get there, he’s there early, already sweating, so he’s working on his craft. He’s just waiting for his opportunity.”
The highlight of the game was an acrobatic reverse layup from Barnes that gave Sacramento separation during an important stretch in the fourth quarter. Sabonis exited the game with his fourth foul at 6:06 in the third and the Kings scored just four points over the rest of the frame.
Sacramento led by six after three quarters despite leading earlier by 17. And the Thunder tied the game at 98 with 8:50 remaining in the fourth. Barnes’ layup and 3-pointer helped the Kings stage a 10-2 run that gave them cushion before closing it out. Keegan Murray had a put-back dunk during that sequence, finishing with 13 points and 10 rebounds in another strong outing.
With Fox out, Barnes took on the onus of aggressively driving to the basket, where the Thunder lacks a true rim protector. Barnes made nine of 10 free throws and went 4 of 5 from the 3-point line. His 29 points were his most since Jan. 15 against the San Antonio Spurs.
“I was just trying to stay aggressive,” Barnes said. “Obviously, we shoot a lot of 3s, so any time we can get paint outside of a post-up and I can get to the free-throw line and slow the game down for us, I think that’s big, especially when shots aren’t falling, just trying to do something different.”
This story was originally published February 28, 2023 at 11:25 PM.
