De'Aaron Fox goes for 43, Kings beat Spurs for 5th straight win

Field Level Media|published: Fri 17th November, 22:29 2023

Nov 17, 2023; San Antonio, Texas, USA; Sacramento Kings guard De'Aaron Fox (5) and and San Antonio Spurs forward Keldon Johnson (3) battle for the loose ball during the first half at Frost Bank Center. credits: Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports

De'Aaron Fox scored a season-high 43 points to help the visiting Sacramento Kings do just enough to outlast the struggling San Antonio Spurs 129-120 on Friday in an In-Season Tournament game.

Fox put up 14 of his points in the final quarter and Domantas Sabonis scored eight points in the final period as the Kings improved to 2-0 in the in-season tournament and eliminated the Spurs, who have dropped all three of their in-season tournament games.

Sacramento led by five points with 1:07 remaining before Fox canned a layup and added a pair of free throws to close out the Spurs. The Kings have won five straight while San Antonio has dropped seven in row.

Sabonis finished with 27 points and 14 rebounds and Malik Monk added 20 points off the bench for the Kings.

Zach Collins scored a season-high 28 points for the Spurs, with Victor Wembanyama adding 27, Keldon Johnson hitting for 21 and Malaki Branham tallying 10. San Antonio was missing starting guard Devin Vassell (abductor) and backup guard Tre Jones (hamstring).

The Spurs roared out of the gate, leading 23-5 after two 3-pointers by Johnson 23 seconds apart. But Sacramento quickly answered, forging a 14-4 run capped by a layup by Sabonis with 2:47 to remaining in the period. Sabonis' floating jumper at the buzzer pulled the Kings to within 31-29 after 12 minutes of play.

Late in the first half, a three-point play by Wembanyama was answered by a pair of 3-pointers by Fox, the second one with 3 seconds to play, and the teams went to the break tied at 62.

Collins led all players with 17 points before halftime on 7-of-8 shooting from the floor. Wembanyama had 16 in the half for San Antonio and Johnson added 12.

Fox paced the Kings with 16 points and Sabonis tallied 12 in the half.

Sacramento ran to the lead with a 22-6 run over the first 5 1/2 minutes of the third quarter only to allow the Spurs to claw back into the game. Sandro Mamukelashvili's short jumper at the buzzer brought San Antonio to within 95-94 heading to the fourth period.

—Field Level Media