De’Aaron Fox had 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists, leading the Sacramento Kings to a 113-109 victory Friday night against the host New Orleans Pelicans.
New Orleans staged a late 9-0 run to get within three on a 3-pointer by Devonte' Graham with 23.2 seconds remaining, but Richaun Holmes, Buddy Hield and Harrison Barnes all knocked down a pair of free throws in the final seconds to help the Kings hold on.
Sacramento shot 50% from the field, 33.3% from 3-point range and 95.8% at the free-throw line, going 24 of 25 at the stripe. New Orleans shot 42.3% from the field and made just 9 of 34 from beyond the arc.
Holmes had 21 points and six rebounds for the Kings, who improved to 3-0 on the road. Hield came off the bench to post 20 points and six rebounds. Barnes had another strong game with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Tyrese Haliburton was good, too, finishing with 17 points and eight assists.
Jonas Valanciunas had 24 points and 13 rebounds for the Pelicans before fouling out with 1:40 to play. Brandon Ingram finished with 22 points, six rebounds and six assists. Graham (16 points) and Nickeil Alexander-Walker (11) combined for 27 points on 9-of-32 shooting.
“Another good road win,” Walton said. “Never easy to win in this league, especially on the road, so I’m proud of our group for fighting through it and finding a way to pull out another one and we’ll look to keep building on the momentum as this road trip carries on.”
The Kings will visit the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday and the Jazz on Tuesday before returning to Sacramento to face the Pelicans again on Wednesday at Golden 1 Center.
“It’s huge,” he said. “We hit a lot of big free throws down the stretch — Buddy and HB and Rich — and that helps us a lot. It’s going to be important as these games ramp up. The closer they are, a lot of times you look to things like rebounding and free throws and turnovers and stats like that are key indicators to winning and losing, so they’re very important.”
