Russell Westbrook had taken over in the fourth quarter and the Kings had let another late lead slip away, but this time De’Aaron Fox came to the rescue.
Fox made a pull-up jumper over Bradley Beal with seven-tenths of a second remaining to give the Kings a dramatic 121-119 victory over the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
Fox finished with 28 points, seven assists and five steals for the Kings (16-24), who deployed a new starting lineup after losing Marvin Bagley III to a broken hand earlier this week. Fox scored his team’s last nine points over the final 2:41, going 5 of 5 at the free-throw line.
Fox’s free-throw shooting has dropped to 68.1% this season, but he has made 30 of 38 (.789) over the past four games.
“For myself and for my team, to help us get wins and for me to be able to take that next step, I have to make free throws because I know I’m going to get to the line,” Fox said. “… That’s pretty much all it is, continuing to grow as a player, continuing to do whatever it takes to help my team win the game.”
Harrison Barnes, Richaun Holmes, rookie Tyrese Haliburton, Richaun Holmes and Cory Joseph all had nice games for the Kings. Barnes had 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Holmes had 18 points and seven rebounds.
Haliburton had 17 points and four assists in his third career start. Hield scored 16 points. Joseph came off the bench to score 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
Beal scored 29 points for the Wizards (14-24), who lost their fifth in a row. Westbrook recorded a triple-double, finishing with 26 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists. Rui Hachimura produced 17 points and nine rebounds. Alex Len, who spent the end of the 2019-20 season with the Kings, posted a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Walton had to decide on a new starting lineup with Bagley out due to injury. Walton chose to go with the lineup he often uses to close games, starting a three-guard lineup of Fox, Haliburton and Hield with Barnes at power forward and Holmes at center. That group logged more than 173 minutes together over the first 39 games, posting a plus-minus rating of plus-13.5.
Walton said he plans to stick with the new starting lineup for at least the next few games. Walton acknowledged the Kings will be undersized against most starting units, but they will have to create advantages of their own.
“We realize that we’re going to be pretty small out there to start,” Walton said. “We have to use other things to our advantage – our spacing, our passing, our playmaking, things like that.”
The Kings did a lot of that in a high-scoring first half that featured 16 ties and six lead changes. Sacramento had 17 assists on 24 made basketball with only three turnovers, but Washington had a 30-18 rebounding advantage and a 40-22 advantage on points in the paint. Despite those disparities, the game was tied 66-66 at the halftime break.
The Kings got hot in the third quarter to establish an 11-point lead. They were still up by 10 following a basket by Fox with 9:33 to play in the fourth, but the Wizards battled back to cut the deficit to one on a 3-pointer by Davis Bertans with 3:02 remaining.
The Kings pushed the lead back up to six on a two free throws by Fox, but the momentum shifted moments later when Holmes fouled out and Fox picked up his fifth foul. Westbrook scored the next six points to tie the game with 22.6 seconds to play, setting the stage for Fox.
Fox let the clock run down to five seconds before making his move. He dribbled left around a screen from Hield, pulled up on a dime and drained the 18-foot jumper over Beal to give the Kings the win.
“The first thought is always to get to the basket, but he jumped on that and that’s when I pulled back,” Fox said. “Those are things you work on as a basketball player in one-on-one situations. You can’t get to the basket every time, so when I pulled back I was ready to shoot the ball.”
NO UPDATE ON BAGLEY
Walton didn’t have much of an update on Bagley, who suffered a fracture of the fourth metacarpal in his left hand in a 122-116 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Monday.
Walton said the team is still looking at treatment options for Bagley. The injury will likely sideline him at least three to six weeks. In some cases, with more complex fractures, recovery time can take several months.
“We’re evaluating treatment plans right now as far as what’s best,” Walton said. “When we have that decision, we’ll let you guys know.”
Bagley has averaged 13.9 points and 7.4 rebounds in 37 games this season. He demonstrated growth at both ends of the floor and was becoming an effective 3-point shooter, making 40.5% in January and 38.5% in February.
”We will miss Marvin a lot. He was making great progress. One of the things we had was we were getting off to pretty good starts consistently throughout the year when we had our starting group there and first quarters were pretty good for us. He gave us size and rebounding that we desperately need, so he will be missed.”
UP NEXT
The Kings will make the fourth stop on this six-game road trip when they face the Boston Celtics on Friday at TD Garden.
The Celtics (20-19) had lost two of their last three going into Wednesday’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers with losses to the Brooklyn Nets and Utah Jazz. Barnes has been the subject of trade interest in Boston for weeks as the Celtics look to add a piece before the March 25 trade deadline.
Two-time All-Star Jayson Tatum is averaging 25.2 points, 6.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists. Jaylen Brown, who made his first All-Star appearance this season, averages 24.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists.
The Kings beat the Celtics 116-111 on Feb. 3 in Sacramento. Fox had 26 points and 11 assists for the Kings. Barnes had 24 points, six assists and five rebounds, and Haliburton came off the bench to score 21. Tatum had a huge game for the Celtics, finishing with 27 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.
