What we learned as new Kings duo Fox, DeRozan fuel first win of season

What we learned as new Kings duo Fox, DeRozan fuel first win of season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

BOX SCORE

SACRAMENTO – De’Aaron Fox scored 24 points to become the fifth player in Kings franchise history to reach the 10,000-point scoring plateau, and Sacramento picked up its first victory of the 2024-25 NBA season after beating the Portland Trail Blazers 111-98 on Monday night.

DeMar DeRozan added 23 points, three assists and three steals as the Kings lit the beam at Golden 1 Center for the first time this season. Domantas Sabonis had another double-double – the 355th of his career – with 16 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists. Kevin Huerter scored 18 and Malik Monk had 12.

The Kings led from start to finish while showing a lot more muscle and physicality than they did when they lost to the Blazers two weeks ago in the preseason.

Sabonis provided the spark early and effectively attacked the rim while helping Sacramento build an early lead, but it was Fox’s night to celebrate.

The veteran point guard – who had double-doubles in each of Sacramento’s first two games – shot 9 of 20 from the floor and scored his milestone points in the third quarter. Fox joins Oscar Robertson, Jack Twyman, Mitch Richmond and Tiny Archibald as the only players in Kings history with 10,000 points or more.

While Fox was doing his thing, the rest of the Kings were taking care of the small details. Sacramento snatched 47 rebounds and dished out 25 assists.

The only real issue for Kings coach Mike Brown has to be how poorly his team played and defended the post. Sacramento had done a good job down low in losses to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Lakers but didn’t have the same success against Portland, getting outscored 52-28 in the paint.

Now it’s on to Utah, where the Kings look to get their first road victory on Tuesday against the Jazz.

Here are the takeaways from Monday’s game:

Getting To The Line

DeRozan’s ability to attack the rim and draw contact was a definite factor in the Kings signing him in the offseason, and we’re seeing why.

After taking making 50 of 60 free-throw attempts in the…


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/learned-kings-duo-fox-derozan-045325401.html

Author : NBC Sports BayArea

Publish date : 2024-10-29 04:53:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.

........,,,,,,,,||||||||||||||||||||]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]][[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[||||||||||||||||||||