What we learned as late collapse dooms Kings to heartbreaking loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
BOX SCORE
SACRAMENTO – De’Aaron Fox’s foul on Jaden Ivey led to a four-point play with 3.1 seconds left, and the Kings saw their losing streak extend to five games after Thursday’s 114-113 loss to the Detroit Pistons at the Golden 1 Center.
Fox had a solid game all night before running to try to block Ivey’s three-point shot in the right corner. Instead, Ivey sank the shot and was fouled. He made the ensuing free throw, and the Kings were unable to make a realistic shot at the end as the boos poured down from the home crowd.
Fox finished with 26 points, six rebounds, four assists and two blocks. He also became the 12the player in franchise history and fourth in the Sacramento era to play 500 games for the team.
Trey Lyles came off the bench and scored a season-high 20 points. DeMar DeRzan scored 19 points, while Keegan Murray added a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Playing without Domantas Sabonis (illness) for the third time this season, the Kings led most of the time, but couldn’t stop the Pistons’ surge at the end.
Kevin Huerter’s two free throws with 10.8 seconds to play seemed like just enough, but the Kings again couldn’t seal the deal.
These are the conclusions from Thursday’s match:
Deebo’s drive is back
With Sabonis unavailable, the Kings needed someone to step up and provide some offense. DeRozan did just that with his highest scoring game in two weeks.
DeRozan was a lot more aggressive with his offense and did more driving and attacking than in recent games. His shooting dipped a bit in the second half as he settled for perimeter shots, but he finished the night 7 of 13 from the floor — significantly better than four days earlier when DeRoza suffered from his worst shooting performance of the season, shooting six of seven he tried it against the Indiana Pacers.
3 To compensate 1
It’s nearly impossible to replace Sabonis’ double-double machine with just one player, so the Kings relied on a trio of big men: Alex Len, Isaac Jones and Trey Lyles. The combination of the three worked out quite well.
Lyles did his best to make up some of the offense, scoring 15 points in the second quarter, while Len and Jones handled the defensive side of things. Len got the start and while he was limited offensively (four points), he impressed defensively and did a good job using his 7-foot frame to convert shots at the rim.
Sofa
For one of the few times this season, the Kings got plenty of production from their bench. A big part of that was how well Lyles played in his extended minutes, but he wasn’t the only one providing Sacramento-quality backup minutes.
Keon Ellis, Kevin Huerter, Isaac Jones and Colby Jones combined for 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
The Kings entered the night with the third-lowest scoring bench in the NBA with an average of 25.5.
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