Mike Brown pushing De’Aaron Fox to be ‘elite’ defensively in Kings-Warriors playoff series
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De’Aaron Fox didn’t spend much time talking about his scoring prowess after producing one of the best playoff debuts in NBA history in a Game 1 win over the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night in Sacramento. He was far more focused on his defense.
Kings coach Mike Brown has asked Fox to step up his game at the defensive end, saying he has the ability to become an elite two-way player. Fox wants to answer his coach’s call.
“Obviously, my team wants me to do things offensively, but Mike talked about (defense) as soon as he got here,” Fox said. “He’s not worried about what I can do offensively. He wants to see me be better defensively and that’s something I want to take the challenge of doing. I think we’ve all seen it in spurts, but I want to be able to do it throughout the course of the game.”
That could be critical to Sacramento’s chances as the Kings prepare to face the Warriors in Game 2 of their best-of-seven first-round playoff series Monday night at Golden 1 Center.
Fox scored 38 points to tie John Williamson (1979) for the second-most points in a postseason debut in a 126-123 victory over the Warriors in Game 1, finishing four points shy of Luka Doncic’s record of 42. Fox’s ability to score at all three levels enabled his team to win the game, but Sacramento’s hopes of winning the series might depend on his ability to defend Golden State star Stephen Curry.
“I didn’t guard Steph the entire game, but most of the first quarter, most of the fourth quarter, I guarded him,” Fox said. “… And playing 40 minutes, scoring 38 points is cool, but just trying to be as disruptive as possible while guarding, if not the best player in the world, the best player to ever shoot a basketball, not just off the catch, but off the dribble. The guy is probably one of the craftiest players to ever touch a ball. Just to be able to try to be disruptive for me is the biggest step, and I think that’s something that I don’t care to prove to anybody else, but I want to prove to myself that I can go out there and try to hound some of the best guards in the league.”
Curry scored 30 points while going 11 of 20 from the field and 6 of 14 from 3-point range with two assists and five turnovers. No one can be expected to shut Curry down, but Fox held his own with occasional help from Davion Mitchell, Harrison Barnes and others.
“(Fox) was really good tonight,” Brown said. “We tried to give him a rest from time to time by throwing Davion into the game and letting Davion chase Steph around. We also mixed in a little bit of zone box-and-one and we’re going to have to continue to mix it up throughout the course of the game, but he’s going to have to be not only elite for us offensively, but elite defensively. That’s what an All-Star does. That’s what a first-, second-, third-team All-NBA player does. They rise to the moment, especially when the moment is really big.”
Kings guard Kevin Huerter credited Fox for doing his best to keep up with Curry, who is renowned as much for his off-ball movement as he is for his prolific shooting and scoring abilities.
“Yeah, it’s really tough,” Huerter said. “It’s no secret how much Steph moves in their offense. It’s a big part of what they do. I thought Davion came in and did a good job on him, too. Fox coming in, being able to expend that much energy, especially that first and fourth quarter, and be able to produce for us offensively is super important.”
Brown was asked how well Fox has responded to his challenge to become the best defender he can be.
“First of all, he’s embraced it,” Brown said. “He knows that he has to be able to do that in order for us to attain or achieve our goal. He has to be a two-way player if he expects at all, at any time, to win a championship. He’s got to do it at a high level.”
This story was originally published April 17, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
