What we learned from the late collapse The post Kings’ heartbreaking loss appeared first on NBC Sports Bay Area.
box score
SACRAMENTO – De’Aaron Fox’s foul on Jaden Ivey led to a four-point play with 3.1 seconds left, and the Kings extended their losing streak to five games after losing 114-113 to the Detroit Pistons on Thursday at Golden 1 Center.
Fox had a solid game all evening, rushing to block Ivey’s 3-pointer from the right corner. Instead, Ivey sank the shot and was fouled. He made the ensuing free throw, but the boos from the home crowd left the Kings unable to get a realistic shot in the final minutes.
Fox finished the game with 26 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks. He also turned 12.Day He is the fourth player in franchise history and the fourth player in the Sacramento era to play 500 games for the team.
Trey Lyles came off the bench to score a season-high 20 points. DeMar DeRzan scored 19 points and Keegan Murray added a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Playing without Domantas Sabonis (illness) for the third time this season, the Kings led for most of the game but couldn’t stop the Pistons’ surge in the final minutes.
Kevin Huerter’s two free throws with 10.8 seconds left appeared to be enough, but the Kings once again failed to close the deal.
Here are the takeaways from Thursday’s game:
deebo’s drive is back
With Sabonis unavailable, the Kings needed someone to step up and run the offense. DeRozan did just that with his highest scoring game in two weeks.
DeRozan has been much more aggressive offensively and has had more drives and strikes than he has in recent games. His shooting dipped a bit in the second half as he settled for outside shots, but he finished the night 7 of 13 from the floor. That’s a lot better than four days ago, when DeRoza suffered his worst shooting performance of the season, going 6 of 7 shooting. He tried against the Indiana Pacers.
To supplement 3 1
Replacing Sabonis’ double-double machine with just one player was nearly impossible, so the Kings relied on three big men: Alex Len, Isaac Jones, and Trey Lyles. The combination of the three came out pretty good.
Lyles did his best to make up for some offense, scoring 15 points in the second quarter, while Len and Jones handled the defensive side of things. Len started and was limited offensively (4 points), but made an impact on defense and did a good job converting shots at the rim using his 7-foot frame.
bunch of benches
This season, the Kings have gotten a lot of production from their bench. A big part of that was how well Lyles played during the extended minutes, but he wasn’t the only one who provided quality backup minutes for Sacramento.
Keon Ellis, Kevin Huerter, Isaac Jones and Colby Jones combined for 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
The Kings had a night with the third-lowest scoring bench in the NBA, averaging 25.5 points.
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