One night after scoring a franchise-record 60 points in a losing effort, Sacramento star De’Aaron Fox will seek a different result when the Kings host the Utah Jazz on Saturday night.
Fox was 22 of 35 from the field and 6 of 10 from 3-point range in a 130-126 overtime loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night.
“I would’ve rather us gotten the rebound in the fourth and me not even get 60,” Fox said. “It’s definitely cool, but obviously, I definitely wanted to get the win.”
Fox moved into the franchise record book by surpassing Jack Twyman’s 59 points for the Cincinnati Royals on Jan. 15, 1960.
Sacramento rallied from a 20-point deficit in the third quarter despite playing without Malik Monk (right ankle) and DeMar DeRozan (lower back tightness), who missed his first game of the season.
Fox engineered the Kings’ comeback by scoring 39 of his 60 points after halftime.
“He’s an All-Star, and the sky is the limit for him,” Sacramento coach Mike Brown said. “He knew we needed help, and he put us on his back, and he almost carried us to the finish line, but he did everything in his power and it was a spectacular performance by him.”
The Kings also received another strong outing from center Domantas Sabonis, who recorded his 12th straight double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds. Keegan Murray added 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Sacramento will aim for its sixth straight win over Utah. The Kings won the first meeting this season on Oct. 29, when Sabonis finished with 28 points and 11 rebounds in a 113-96 victory.
Utah has won three of its past five games, including 115-113 over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday.
John Collins scored 28 points and Jordan Clarkson added 20 for the Jazz, who recorded their first home victory of the season after Collins scored with 6.4 seconds remaining.
“Tonight isn’t about the Xs & Os piece, it was about the mental and physical toughness that the team showed,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “It felt really, really good to battle through a tough moment and pull out a win here at home.”
Rookie Kyle Filipowski is quickly emerging as a key building block for Utah, which took the 6-foot-11 forward with the 32nd pick in this year’s NBA draft.
Filipowski is expected to make his second straight start on Saturday in place of Walker Kessler, who is out due to hip bursitis. Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen is listed as questionable with an eye contusion.
Filipowski has totaled 32 points on 13-of-19 shooting from the field over his past two games, but Hardy was most impressed with his defense against Dallas star Luka Doncic on Thursday.
“I think Doncic picked him a lot to isolate, and I thought that Kyle was fantastic,” Hardy said. “Luka is one of the hardest players in the league to guard in isolation, and I thought that Kyle did a really good job of moving his feet, using his body, bracing up for contact and really not being sloppy with his hands and fouling.”
Hardy also has been pleased by the play of Collins, who is averaging 21 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 3.3 assists in six games this month.
–Field Level Media
