Kings thrive in ‘chaotic’ In-Season Tournament game to defeat Warriors

Nov 28, 2023; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Malik Monk (0) is interviewed after a game against the Golden State Warriors at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports
By Hunter Patterson
Nov 29, 2023

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Trey Lyles marched to the scorer’s table with 50.3 seconds remaining in the Sacramento Kings’ 124-123 win over the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday, but it wasn’t to sub back into the game. He called Malik Monk over to talk, was passionate in his delivery and Monk was immediately responsive.

Monk proceeded to pick off a Stephen Curry pass intended for Klay Thompson, knock down a stepback 3 and hit the eventual game-winning circus shot off the glass. What could Lyles have said to his fellow Kentucky Wildcat to inspire that string of events?

“He told me to stop bullsh—-’,” Monk said after the game. “I missed a box out on (Andrew Wiggins) and he told me I gotta lock-in.”

Monk did just that down the stretch after logging eight first-half minutes. His go-ahead bucket gave him his 21st point of the evening, 14 of which came in the second half en route to his fourth 20-point game off the bench this season. Lyles added 11 points, six boards and a block of his own.

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The Kings faced a 24-point deficit with 1:17 left in the first half and the game felt in jeopardy of being one the Warriors could run off with during the final 24 minutes. But Sacramento thrived in a chaotic matchup to claw its way back into the game, holding Golden State to 51 second-half points, the fourth-fewest they’ve scored through the final two quarters this season.

“The more chaotic (the game) was, it seemed to be in our favor,” Kings coach Mike Brown said during his postgame news conference. “Because our guys were finding ways to respond and throughout the chaos, it was bringing them energy.”

Draymond Green, who returned from a five-game suspension Thursday for his altercation with Rudy Gobert earlier in November, gave the Kings all the chaotic energy they needed. Green received his fourth technical foul of the season with 9:39 remaining in the final frame, and it felt like the turning point. Sacramento came together to outscore Golden State 25-16 from that point on to win the game.

“Yeah, it definitely was the momentum we needed from them slipping up right there,” Monk said during his postgame news conference. “Mike (Brown) had been telling us to stay with it the whole game, and something was going to happen. … We just stuck with it, stuck with the game plan.”

Part of Brown’s game plan included limiting Golden State’s open 3-point looks. I know, much easier said than done. The Warriors were 12-of-25 from distance in the first half and it seemed the Kings had no answer for their scorching start. Sacramento went on to hold them to 5-of-16 in the second half and finished the game with 17 contested 3-point attempts.

Brown called it a “tale of two halves” and couldn’t have been any more accurate.

“Our defense around the 3-point line dramatically improved in that second half,” Brown said. “We were flying around, we were just communicating and trying to figure it out, because they’re so talented. They move, they don’t have a ton of play calls and just moving off instinct, pass the ball off instinct. So, we had to talk our defense through a lot.”

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Sasha Vezenkov was a large part of the Kings’ defense improving through the final two quarters. The rookie logged all 15 of his minutes in the second half, scoring eight points including two big 3s. He did knock down some timely shots, but Vezenkov’s impact was felt most defensively, as he posted a team-best 87.1 defensive rating.

He grabbed four boards, deflected two passes and blocked a career-high two shots — one of which came on Curry. Both, though, came after Green’s tech.

The rookie’s play caught the attention of his All-Star teammate.

“Sasha hadn’t been in the rotation for a few games,” De’Aaron Fox said postgame. “He came out and was big for us defensively and I think he had an all-around really good game for us.”

Fox, less than enthused with his 9-of-17 shooting from the free-throw line, scored all of his team-high nine fourth-quarter points after Green received his tech. His first two came as he took advantage of Kevon Looney on the perimeter to get downhill for a lefty layup. Then came an and-1 on Dario Šarić. His 3-pointer with 1:14 left in the game was the only point he scored in the fourth with Green even on the floor.

In total, Fox scored a team-high 29 points and flirted with a triple-double, adding nine rebounds, seven assists and two steals. He was also crowned Sacramento’s Defensive Player of the Game.

But even still, Fox wasn’t satisfied with his performance.

“I’m disappointed with the way I shot the ball,” Fox said. “But I had two turnovers. I think I’m averaging two turnovers, so that’s a career low for me. I had five deflections, I rebounded the ball well. I tried to affect the game in other ways even though every miss I had tonight was probably short. I would say offensively it wasn’t my best game, but I was out there for 40 minutes and I feel like my imprint was still on the game.”

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It was a fair assessment for someone like Fox, who is likely his toughest critic. Brown, though, made sure to highlight Fox’s overall impact on the game.

“Not only are we asking him to score,” Brown said. “We’re asking him to score, push the pace, get guys involved, make plays for himself and others. We’re asking him to do that at a high level. But if you want the definition of a two-way player, you look at that second half tonight.

“He went from guarding Klay Thompson, to Steph Curry, back to Klay Thompson, to Steph Curry. He guarded Draymond a little bit. I mean, he was all over the place defensively. That’s the definition of a two-way player. Put him in Webster’s (Dictionary).”

While Brown lobbied for Fox to be featured in Merriam-Webster’s latest edition, he also shed light on just how chaotic the game was. Monk, who Brown said should have won the Sixth Man of the Year award last season and is the “leading candidate” for it this season, scolded the coaching staff for being too critical of the officials.

“Malik came over and scolded all of us coaches,” Brown said, with a smile on his face. “He said, ‘Hey, leave the officials alone. You guys need to be quiet.’ And I’m glad he did. We all need to be held accountable. … Once we did that, in my opinion, that’s when we took off.”

Sacramento needed all the chaos it could handle Tuesday night to improve to 10-6 overall and 4-0 in the In-Season Tournament to advance to the knockout round. They’ll host the LA Clippers on Wednesday night and the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night for their next two regular-season games. The next chance at another chaotic In-Season Tournament game comes Monday when they host the New Orleans Pelicans, who have handed the Kings two of their six losses thus far.

(Photo: Sergio Estrada / USA Today)

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Hunter Patterson

Hunter Patterson is a live news editor at The Athletic. A graduate of Loyola Marymount University and USC, Hunter recently worked as a broadcasting assistant for the NBA.