Kings All-Star explains Sacramento's recent dominance
The Sacramento Kings may have the NBA's best crunch-time offense, and there's a simple explanation as to why.
After the Kings held off the New York Knicks late Thursday night, 122-117, All-Star Domantas Sabonis had a quick answer about his team's excellent fourth-quarter offense.
"It's pretty easy," he said. "We just give the ball to Fox."
That's the Kings' other All-Star, point guard De'Aaron Fox, who had 15 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter. The Knicks had closed the deficit to 92-91 when Fox re-entered the game, and promptly scored the Kings' next 11 points, including an emphatic dunk.
When New York came back late, Fox made a tough layup with 26 seconds left to give Sacramento a four-point lead they would not relinquish.
Fox has by far the most points in the NBA in clutch situations, with 169 points to second-place Jalen Brunson's 131. He's shooting 55.7 percent from the field and 83.7 percent from the free throw line.
His speed makes him difficult to stop when he heads for the basket, especially since he's greatly improved his pull-up jumpers. Last year, Fox shot 46.6 percent on shots from 3-10 feet of the basket, and 45.1 percent from 10-16 feet.
This year, he's making 57.8 percent of his 3-10-footers, and 48.2 percent from 10-16 feet. Now Fox's shooting is creating space for his drives, as defenders have to stick close to him.
Fox has to be considered the favorite for the inaugural Jerry West Trophy, awarded to the NBA's best clutch player of the season. But as good as he's been, Kings coach Mike Brown would prefer the Kings play better in the rest of the game, so they don't always need Fox's heroics.
"I am not happy at all with our performance except for the fact that we won the game," Brown told reporters. "I'm going to put pressure on Domas and Foxy. They have to hold themselves to an elite level on every possession, but just as importantly, they have to open their mouths and hold their teammates to a high standard."
It's an amazing turnaround for the Kings, who haven't made the playoffs in 17 years. They won a game that kept them in second place in the conference, and their coach was unhappy because he expects more.
Still, having Fox in the fourth quarter makes up for a lot of sloppiness in the other three quarters, especially when Malik Monk is there to turn him on.
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