What we learned as LaVine, Kings foil Fox’s Sacramento return

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What we learned as LaVine, Kings foil Fox’s Sacramento return originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

BOX SCORE

SACRAMENTO – Zach LaVine got the upper hand in his first showdown against former Kings star De’Aaron Fox at Golden 1 Center, pouring in 36 points with seven 3-pointers as Sacramento kept rolling with a 127-109 win over Fox and the San Antonio Spurs on Friday.

LaVine, who was acquired from the Chicago Bulls as part of the three-team trade that landed Fox in San Antonio shortly before the deadline, was electric all evening and had the purple-clad crowd roaring. He shot 14 of 22 from the floor, finished plus-23 and is averaging 22.4 during the 13 games that he’s been with Sacramento,

DeMar DeRozan added 22 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for the Kings. Jonas Valančiūnas had his third double-double in his last four games, scoring 15 points to go with 12 rebounds. Keegan Murray scored 19 points and Keon Ellis had 10.

The win kept the Kings (33-29) in the Western Conference’s No. 9 seed. With 20 games left before the 2024-25 NBA playoffs, Sacramento has won eight of 11 and is within 1 ½ games of avoiding the play-in tournament and advancing straightaway to the postseason.

There’s a lot of basketball between now and then, although interim coach Doug Christie’s team is in position to finish the season strong.

The Kings man-handled the Spurs despite missing injured starters Malik Monk and Domantas Sabonis. San Antonio was also short-handed without likely rookie of the year Victor Webyanyama, who is done for the season.

Sacramento never trailed in this one and led by 20 late in the third quarter on the way to the blowout victory.

Here are the takeaways from Friday’s game:

Defending De’Aaron

Fox had a few memorable moments during the game, although his first game back at G1C mostly was muted due to the defense of Keon Ellis and Keegan Murray. The two combined to put the wraps on their former teammate, limiting Fox 16 points on 6 of 17 shooting.

Ellis, who has evolved into one of the Kings’ top on-ball defenders, flashed his abilities in the first half. He got a clean swipe on the ball and…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/learned-lavine-kings-foil-foxs-214211599.html

Author : NBC Sports BayArea

Publish date : 2025-03-07 21:42:00

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