NBA: Kings use strong finishing kick to beat Spurs
Published February 23, 2024 2:59pm De’Aaron Fox recorded 28 points and nine assists and Domantas Sabonis had 22 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists to lead the Sacramento Kings to a 127-122 home win over the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night. Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk scored 21 points apiece and Keegan Murray added […]
Tomas Kauer - News Moderator 
De’Aaron Fox recorded 28 points and nine assists and Domantas Sabonis had 22 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists to lead the Sacramento Kings to a 127-122 home win over the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night.
Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk scored 21 points apiece and Keegan Murray added 16 for the Kings, who finished with an 11-2 burst to win their second consecutive game.
Devin Vassell scored 32 points on 13-of-18 shooting and Victor Wembanyama added 19 points, 13 rebounds, five steals and five blocked shots for San Antonio. Keldon Johnson had 18 points and Jeremy Sochan had 16 points and eight rebounds for the Spurs, who lost for the ninth time in their past 10 games.
Wembanyama converted a three-point play with 2:53 left to give the Spurs a 117-116 edge. It was their first lead of the second half.
Vassell drained a 3-pointer to give the Spurs a four-point lead before the Kings erupted with nine straight points as part of their closing run.
Monk hit a jumper, Fox buried a trey to put Sacramento in the lead and Murray slammed home a dunk to give the Kings a 123-120 lead with 58 seconds remaining. Fox added a jumper with 31.6 seconds left to make it a five-point margin and Sacramento closed it out.
The Kings shot 55.9 percent, including 13 of 33 (39.4 percent) from 3-point range.
The Spurs made 51 percent of their attempts and were 11 of 25 (44 percent) from behind the arc. Julian Champagnie and Tre Jones added 10 points apiece for San Antonio.
Monk slammed home a dunk to cap a 7-0 run and give the Kings an 87-76 advantage with 4:04 remaining in the third quarter.
Monk made a floater with 1:41 left to again make it an 11-point margin before San Antonio scored the final five points of the period to trail 93-87.
Malaki Branham opened the fourth quarter with a trey to pull the Spurs within three. But Fox answered with six straight points to give the Kings a 99-90 advantage with 10:18 remaining.
San Antonio eventually caught Sacramento at 114 on Johnson’s 3-pointer with 3:37 remaining.
Huerter had 14 points as Sacramento held a 65-57 halftime lead. Vassell scored 18 first-half points on 8-of-9 shooting for the Spurs.
–Field Level Media/Reuters
