De’Aaron Fox is proving all the doubters wrong this season on his way to a beaming All-Star game appearance. He did it again Saturday night in front of a raucous home crowd, dropping 26 points in the 4th quarter and overtime to lift the Sacramento Kings over the Dallas Mavericks.
Fox was electric; weaving around and through multiple defenders with hesitation moves and patience. Floaters, mid-range jumpers, Euro-steps, hang time, steals, emphatic dunks, made free throws.
Let’s rewatch it.
14 points in overtime.
De'Aaron Fox's 14 overtime points tonight were the most by a player in a single OT period this season. pic.twitter.com/MEkWnvnjZ9
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) February 12, 2023
After the game, Fox spoke about the pace of the game in the fourth quarter and what has been working so well for him.
“I think just continuing to have a pace to the game is kind of what I think about. In the first quarter, the pace is up, but everybody’s pace is up. The second quarter the pace is still kind of up, third quarter it kind of starts to slow down. The fourth quarter, honestly it slows down a lot, but for me, especially when I have opportunities to run, not necessarily just trying to go out there and run as fast as you can, it is continue to have that type of pace and when something opens up then I take it,” Fox said. “And then in the half court, it’s just trying to pick spots. For the most part as like a wing defender, as a guard you kind of know that you’re not going to block a shot. It’s really just trying to get to a spot and just try to get your shot off. And that’s pretty much all I think about when the game is that tight.”
Remembering back to when Fox first came into the league and that all-out speed he played with all the time, it is amazing to see the progression he has made in terms of being able to pick and choose when and how to use it. He really has grown into the role of the point guard and leader of this team. Though hearing about how the game “slows down” for guys gets rather cliche, Fox is a prime example of it working out for the best. And not to mention he has improved on the defensive side of the ball this season, including some stellar defensive possessions against Kyrie Irving.
And Fox and the Kings certainly have the attention of Luka Doncic and Irving, who both shared commentary after the game on Saturday night.
“Amazing, they are a dynamic duo for them,” Doncic said of Fox and Domantas Sabonis. “I think they work together very good and they’re both amazing players.”
Irving said now that he is in the Western Conference and had a chance to see the Kings in back-to-back games, he is going to be taking notes on Fox.
“I’m learning more about De’Aaron’s game as a point guard and I’m just taking notes because we may see them down the line,” Irving said.
The Kings remain 2 games ahead of the Mavericks for the third spot in the Western Conference.
Very Jordan-like. Special!!
The Mavs are now 0-2 with both Luka and Kyrie in the lineup, and now 2.5 games behind us!
Big game tomorrow against the new 4th place team, the Suns.
They are all big games at this point.
That kid is GOOD!
http://www.bballspotlight.com/2010/07/one-on-one-feat-deaaron-fox-defenders.html
Somehow, he looks older in this photo than he does now.
It’s an old photo of him. 🙂
He’s got that old soul
Finally watched that game last night. Can’t imagine how awesome it would have been to be at the arena. Gotta keep Sabonis on the floor, can’t afford to lose him at the end of games. Should be a good game tonight….hopefully my wife won’t mind if I watch it! Spending V-day at our son’s 8th grade basketball game! Very romantic!
I agree with you about Sabonis being on the floor but really thought Lyles came in and did an outstanding job at center. Nice to have that kind of backup when Sabonis fouls out because he has been doing it a lot lately or close to it.
He’s really been picking up a lot of dumb fouls over the past month. I don’t think that a single one called against him on Saturday was wrong.
Agreed. Some are ticky-tack, but still fouls. I just wish the calls went both ways when he’s getting hammered on the offensive end. I wonder if some his his dumb fouls are just fatigue setting in a bit. The dude is putting in a lot of minutes. Hopefully he gets some good rest after tonight’s game and through the break.
Quite a bit of his fouls are pushing that can be corrected if he wants to. A lot of fouls are due to the fact that their is not much defense on the perimeter allowing straight line drives in which Sabonis is trying to help and correct. He and other bigs are the last line of defense.
Could be fatigue. He’s played a ton of minutes. Also, that’s been one of Domas’ real bugaboo’s over the years.
Yeah, I think Sabonis was having a little trouble covering guys at the end before he fouled out. If I remember correctly, they were making him move further out to the perimeter and he’d get blown by. So Lyles coming in might’ve benefitted the Kings a bit.
Lyles has done this at least twice now this season – making a big difference after Sabonis fouls out. I think that he is a different look that teams have difficulty adjusting to in the waning minutes of a game.
Sabonis being out should be a disaster for this team, and if it was anything other than a very short burst it probably would be. But Lyles has done an admirable job of bridging the gap between Sabonis fouling out and the end of the game.
My wife and I attended that game, visiting from out of town. I was really hoping it would be a fun win, for her enjoyment and so we could see the Beam together.
Spending V-day at your son’s basketball game truly is romantic! 🙂
Hopefully she doesn’t expect every game to be that way.
This game is when Fox truly became an all-star to me. I just see him differently now.
I think first is him wanting to win and get to the playoffs. May be there is a second reason somewhere but IMO the third reason he wants to show why they missed out on selecting him to be n all star not as a backup but on the first or second team.
I ask with no ulterior motive: Do you think that before this season, Fox didn’t want to win?
Just referrng to my above comment he has always wanted to win but places his all star rating some where around third not first.
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