De’Aaron Fox’s dunk punctuates successful road trip as Kings race past Detroit Pistons

Harrison Barnes drove from the right wing to the basket against physical Detroit Pistons swingman Isaiah Stewart. Seeing that Barnes was likely to pass, Detroit guard Killion Hayes went to cut off the passing lane to sharp shooter Kevin Huerter in the left corner.

The problem: Hayes left De’Aaron Fox all alone on the left wing. From there, Fox cut into the key and Barnes found him. Fox pounded one dribble, and then pounded the rim. He cocked back a hellacious, two-footed, left-handed dunk that he would later call his best of the season.

Coming with two minutes left and giving his team an 11-point lead, Fox’s dunk punctuated the Kings’ 122-113 victory over Detroit at Little Caesars Arena. With the win, the Kings finished 3-3 on a laborious six-game East Coast road trip, feeling better than they would have if they lost to go 2-4.

“It was a big spark,” Huerter said of Fox’s dunk afterwards. “That was a great moment in the game for us.”

The Kings responded to a sputtering first half by outscoring the home team by 17 points after halftime. There was a different energy to start the third quarter, which included a 14-2 run highlighted by a series of defensive stops. Sacramento hit the break losing by eight, but won the third frame 38-23, and held on in the fourth quarter with Fox’s dunk serving as the flashpoint.

For good measure, Domantas Sabonis added an and-1 dunk moments later, but he missed the free throw, which he said will haunt him during the five-hour flight home to Northern California.

Fox finished with 24 points, nine assists and five rebounds. Sabonis added 23 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists. It marked his fourth consecutive game with at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists — the longest such streak by a Kings player since Chris Webber in 2005. The only other player in team history to accomplish that was Oscar Robertson.

“You know what you’re getting from that man every night,” coach Mike Brown said of Sabonis, whom he again called an All-Star. “I’ve been around a lot of players. If he’s not the hardest-playing person I’ve been around in my career, he’s got to be in the top three. I said that to him the other night.”

Said Fox of Sabonis: “I think he’s played as a top five center in the league this year. Just the way he makes plays, the way that he rebounds, the way he finished, he does everything in the game.”

The importance of finishing the road trip on a high note wasn’t lost on Brown, who shortened his rotation in the second half and leaned heavily on Fox and Sabonis, who played 39:21 and 40:52, respectively. Fox came into the game averaging 32 minutes per game while Sabonis was just under 33.

“I knew that we needed to get this one,” Brown said. “They felt it too. And they probably could have ran longer if we needed them to, but we gave them enough rest to go out there and get the job done.”

The truncated rotation was needed to win the game, but was also a necessity in Fox’s case because his backup, Davion Mitchell, missed the game due to a non-COVID-19 related illness. Matthew Dellavedova was called on to play 8:39, with just over three minutes in the second half, but finished minus-10 on the court without scoring. So Fox, despite his recent sore foot, logged his third-most minutes of the season.

“We had some bumps in the road,” Fox said, referring to the three losses on the road trip. “But getting out of here with this one is definitely good. And this team (the Pistons), they’ve been in every game that they’ve played. So for us coming in here, we knew that it was going to be a dogfight.”

The Pistons fell to 8-23 on the season after losing eight of their last 11. They were without standout guard Cade Cunningham, who had season-ending shin surgery Friday. But Detroit still provided Sacramento with a physical test. The Kings lost on the boards, 46-33, while 19-year-old center Jalen Duren finished with 14 rebounds.

The Kings overcame that physical disadvantage by getting out in transition, finishing with the advantage in fastbreak points, 18-6, which included getting 16 in the second half. It spoke to their second-half rejuvenation.

“We were just trying to finish the road trip strong,” said Barnes, who had 19 points while all five starters were in double figures. “Losing that first game in Milwaukee was tough and we’ve been playing catch up since then. To be able to finish .500 is a big deal for us.”

Rookie Keegan Murray kept the Kings’ offense afloat while the team struggled shooting from 3-point range. He finished with 20 points, his fourth 20-point game of the season and three points shy of his career high. Malik Monk added 11 points and six assists off the bench, joining Sabonis, Fox and Huerter, who all tallied four assists.

The Kings flew home Friday night and will get two days off before starting a six-game homestand on Monday against the Charlotte Hornets.