‘Big time for us’: Fox and Mitchell are the scorer and the stopper in Kings’ playoff win

Davion Mitchell lives for this, chasing down the best dribblers and shooters in the NBA with the aim to throw down speed bumps to stall down-hill momentum.

De’Aaron Fox also lives for this, only his game is offense: scoring in bunches, bolting down the lane in a flash, sealing big games with big shots.

On Monday night inside a delirious Golden 1 Center, the guards were paramount in the Kings seizing a 2-0 series lead on the defending champion Golden State Warriors in this first-round Western Conference series. Fox scored 24 points and Mitchell hounded the most prolific player in the league in Stephen Curry in doing their part to lead a 114-106 victory.

Fox and Mitchell face off regularly in practice and then find the legs to unleash on opponents in games. Those workout sessions are not tame. They compete, they battle, they sweat. Neither yields an inch willingly.

Fox said the bouts have made him better, and he’s never been better than this season, his best since joining the NBA as a franchise savior out of Kentucky in 2017.

Mitchell said Fox has forced him to up his game. That Fox happens to be the quickest player in the league means Mitchell could either improve or buckle.

The Baylor product does not buckle. He goes by “Off Night” because the second-year stopper often reduces his opponent to something less than a good night. Curry managed 15 points through three quarters, and if Mitchell guarded him any closer, he would have been inside his jersey.

Stopping Curry

Curry scored 28 points to lead all scorers, but he did not get untracked from 3-point range, where he is most lethal, something he has done over his decorated career. Curry made just 3 of 13 3’s, and the typical Warriors run to take control did not happen.

No one can stop Curry, certainly, but Mitchell made him work, and that’s no easy task, given Curry’s remarkable range, skills and ability to get open. That Mitchell scored 14 points speaks of his versatility. He is not needed to score. He is employed to make scorers work for every inch.

And both hit buckets to drop the Warriors to 0-2 in a playoff series for the first time in the Curry era. Fox hit a 3 for a 107-101 lead with 2:17 to play and Mitchell iced it with a 3 to push it to 112-103 with 1:18 left.

It was no surprise that Mitchell was the one wearing the defensive player of the game chain around his neck with links seemingly large and strong enough to pull a truck out of a ditch.

“He was big time for us,” Fox said of Mitchell. “We all know what he can do defensively. He handled Steph most of the game, and then what he did offensively was huge, like the big 3 in the corner. Honestly, I would say that was the nail in the coffin.”

Of their practice meetings, Fox praised his teammate even more.

“I go against (Mitchell) every day and that’s why you’ll see what I do out here because I’m not going against Davion out here,” Fox said. “He’s made me a better player since he’s been here. Obviously, he has the nickname of ‘Off Night’, but I don’t think people realize how he moves laterally and how strong he actually is. He’s made me a much better player.”

Defensive specialist

Mitchell said this playoff moment was the biggest of his young career. He prides himself in his work. He wants to be a shooter the Kings can count on. But his specialty is defense — moving his feet, anticipating cuts, sticking to players like an arm sleeve.

“A lot of people look at basketball as all about offense, but it’s really not,” Mitchell said. “It’s the little things you do defensively, rebounding, and defense is a big, big, big piece (to what we do). It’s the playoffs. You have to be locked in.”

Players can watch hours of film on ways to deal with Curry, how he snakes around screens and finds an inch to fire up a 30-footer. Mitchell embraces the challenge.

“I love that end of the floor,” Mitchell said of playing defense. “I’m really fine with it. It’s a challenge. Getting through low screens, a lot of screens, getting hit throughout the whole season on screens.

Kings coach Mike Brown applauded Fox on his playoff debut on Saturday when the first-time All-Star scored 38 points in a 126-123 win, the first for Sacramento since the 2006 season. He praised his star again on Monday.

“You take your hat off to Foxy, who had big, big, big buckets down the stretch,” Brown said. “He had a big 3 right in front of our bench that was phenomenal.”

On Mitchell, the coach was similarly impressed.

“Steph had 28, and when a guy scores that, you think somebody did a halfway decent job,” Brown said. “But when Steph is the greatest of the greats, you’re not stopping him. You just want to try your best to make him work. I’ve gotta give credit to Davion for trying to fight over screens and through screens and all that other stuff. I don’t know if he can do a better job.”

Game 3 is Thursday at Chase Center in San Francisco when the scorer and the stopper will be tasked to deliver again.