The Sacramento Kings improved to 2-0 on the preseason in a 113-98 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night.
De’Aaron Fox led all scorers with 23 points in addition to 4 rebounds, 4 assists and a +16 plus/minus. Davion Mitchell also debuted his strongest offensive run for Sacramento, tallying 13 points on 5-9 shooting from the field, 3 rebounds and 4 assists.
Luke Walton rolled out a new, “realistic” lineup vs. Los Angeles, starting Fox alongside Tyrese Haliburton, Harrison Barnes, Moe Harkless and Tristan Thompson. Los Angeles started Nicolas Batum, Paul George, Eric Bledsoe, Reggie Jackson and Ivica Zubac.
Sacramento was off to the races to start the first quarter, making four of their first five shots from beyond the arc to start the contest, a stark contrast from the Clippers’ efforts (2-9 from three through the entire frame).
Davion Mitchell opened the second quarter running a majority of the point, putting some serious mileage in guarding Paul George and hitting his only three attempted. Kings’ digital shared a snippit of George giving Mitchell visible props following one of his defensive plays.
Fox took over before the end of two frames, scoring 16 first-half points, which led all scorers. Sacramento and Los Angeles went into halftime knotted up at 51-51.
Fox carried that energy into the third quarter and assisted the first two buckets to go along with 7 points he scored for a game-high 23 with 8:01 left to play in the third.
Sacramento took a double-digit lead with 3:47 remaining in the third quarter and blew the contest wide open after outscoring the Clippers 38-17 through three frames.
Overall, it was another solid night of Sacramento basketball. Fox was able to shake the rust off and give Kings fans another optimistic introspection into this improvements during the offseason. Meanwhile, Barnes continued to display his high productivity with all the men he played next to, and will be one to watch going into the regular season as a pillar of consistency for this squad.
The team will look to improve to 3-0 on the preseason Monday, October 11 vs. the Portland Trail Blazers.
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