Sacramento, CA, Jan. 3 (BUS): DeAaron Fox scored 11 out of 24 points over the last six minutes, including two free throws with 6.2 seconds left, as the Sacramento Kings ended the Miami Heat’s five-game winning streak. With a victory 115-113.
Buddy Hield added 26 points for Sacramento. Damian Jones scored 18 points and 10 rebounds. Davion Mitchell scored 12 points.
“He put in some plays and the team trusted me,” Fox said. “It wasn’t really the game plan. Just kind of how the game went. We were able to finish this.”
Tyler Hero and Omar Yurtseven each scored 22 points in the Heat. Kyle Lowry added 14 points and 12 assists, according to the Associated Press.
After Hield made a three-pointer to tie it at 99, Miami briefly regained the lead before Fox helped the Kings finish off the match strong.
The Kings point guard hooked up on consecutive floats, then made seven consecutive free throws along the stretch. The last two came after he tied Jimmy Butler’s jump to 113.
Fox finished 14 of 15 free throws.
“He did a great job in attacking, going to the goal line and shooting them with confidence,” said Kings interim coach Alvin Gentry. “Obviously he was in attack mode tonight. You’re in to draw them and do some good things.”
Miami missed an opportunity to force overtime when Butler missed a short attempt near the edge of the bell.
“From our point of view, everyone thought his pontoon had a real chance to go,” Heat coach Eric Spoelstra said. “Games don’t come to those plays. There are a bunch of plays we could have made to probably put ourselves in a better position.”
Butler, who scored 21 points, said he made a mistake in driving toward the basket.
“Maybe you should have shot 3 anyway if I was brutally honest,” Butler said. “I got to my place. I just smoked a ball throw.”
The Kings closed the third quarter in round 10-3 to tie the match heading into the fourth.
Familiar faces
The Heat’s ever-changing roster included a pair of former Kings anthologies on 10-day contracts, Nick Stauskas and Kyle Jay. Stuskas, the eighth player to win the 2014 title, had five points in 13 minutes and spent one season with Sacramento before moving to Philadelphia, and also had spells in Brooklyn, Portland and Cleveland. Gaye, who was the Kings’ second-round pick in 2019, scored seven points and four assists.
Hint
Heat: Butler was 1 of 6 in 3 seconds. … Yurtseven had the highest scoring level of the season and had 10 or more rebounds in eight consecutive games. Spoilstra got a technical error in the second quarter. … Miami’s list of missing players is still long. They include Pam Adebayo (right thumb) along with Marcus Jarrett, Odonis Haslam, Duncan Robinson and Max Strauss, all of whom are included in the NBA’s health and safety protocols.
Kings: Therese Halliburton has 12 assists. … Richawon Holmes has been incorporated into health and safety protocols.
next one
Heat: The Warriors faced off in San Francisco on Monday. Miami has won four of its last five games against Golden State.
Kings: Play The Lakers in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The two teams split over a pair of matches in November.