His league-leading 185 clutch points make up nearly 39% of Sacramento's total clutch production. The Kings have played the sixth-most clutch minutes (time within the last five minutes of a game with a margin of five points or less), and Fox is the biggest reason they've won those 173 minutes by a whopping 54 points. The only other guard in the top 37 is Lakers sophomore Austin Reaves.įox has also been the NBA's " Captain Clutch" this season. Among 341 players who've logged at least 600 minutes this season, he ranks 15th in at-rim efficiency (just behind Kevin Durant), per Cleaning The Glass. He ranks 11th in drives per game, and despite being listed at a mere 6-foot-3 and 185 pounds, Fox is shooting 78% at the rim. The first-time All-Star is averaging 25.3 points and 6.1 assists on 60.2% true shooting, converting above his career averages from every area of the court.įox's biggest strength remains getting to the basket. Rocky Widner / NBA / Getty Imagesĭe'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis are the pillars of that devastating attack.įox is a dizzying blur, and he's the main reason Sacramento spends more time in transition than any other team (20.3% of possessions), according to NBA.com. Scoring and efficiency are at an all-time high across the NBA this year, but Sacramento's offensive rating relative to the league average (plus-4.9) is the second-highest mark in franchise history and its best offensive performance since 2004 (plus-7.4), when Peja Stojakovic and Mike Bibby headlined their firepower. Sacramento not only owns the league's best offense this season but the most efficient offense in NBA history (118.9 points per 100 possessions). And they're doing it by playing the most entertaining brand of basketball imaginable. They're also closing in on the franchise's first Pacific Division title in 20 years. Through 75 games, the 45-30 Kings own the league's seventh-best record and the West's No. Then again, Kings victories should no longer be stunning. That figure had Sacramento pegged as the Western Conference's 11th-best team, meaning even just squeaking into the play-in tournament would've been an overachievement.Ĭan you blame the organization, then, for lighting Sacramento's sky purple after every win this season or blame cowbell-ringing Kings fans for being so giddy about lighting that beam every time their beloved team notches another stunning victory? Rocky Widner / NBA / Getty Images They only topped 30 wins eight times in the last 16 seasons, and the team entered this year with a preseason over/under win total of 34.5. “WE’RE GETTING 40 WINS THIS YEAR” /yHplVfHnR5- SB Nation July 3, 2022īefore recording their 40th victory of the 2022-23 campaign earlier this month, the Kings hadn't cracked that mediocre benchmark in 17 years. Kings fans didn’t know how to act after winning two summer league games Which other fanbase would so gleefully proclaim that their team could win … 40 games? Those tortured and ridiculed Kings fans haven't asked for much. As former Lakers head coach Phil Jackson once asked while delivering a backhanded compliment during the two teams' heated rivalry at the turn of the century, "What else do they play in Sacramento? Picking fruits and vegetables?" That left the Kings - who faced a relocation scare back in 2013 - to play the part of California basketball's ugly stepsister.Īnd that's a shame, because the Kings are the only big-league ticket in Sacramento, but own just nine winning seasons over their 38-year history in the state capital. In the state of California, the once lowly Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers have emerged as perennial contenders over the last decade or so, while the 17-time champion Lakers remain the league's most glamorous franchise.
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