De’Aaron Fox poured in 28 points and dished out 11 assists against his former team to help the host San Antonio Spurs to a 123-110 win over the struggling Sacramento Kings in a Sunday matinee.
The Spurs were without star center Victor Wembanyama, who missed his first game of the season because of left calf tightness. Wembanyama had started the first 12 games for the Spurs after missing 36 games last season when he was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis in his shoulder.
San Antonio did not miss a beat without its top player, leading by eight points at halftime before stoking the margin to 19 points late in the third quarter. The Kings pulled to within 95-85 heading to the fourth quarter, but never made a sustained run down the stretch.
Harrison Barnes added 20 points for San Antonio, while Devin Vassell finished with 16. Keldon Johnson had 14 points and 12 rebounds, Luke Kornet tallied 13 points and 11 rebounds, Julian Champagnie hit for 12 points and Jeremy Sochan poured in 11 as the Spurs snapped a two-game losing streak.
DeMar DeRozan led the Kings with 27 points on 12 of 15 shooting from the floor. Dennis Schroder finished with 22 points, with Domantas Sabonis adding 17 points and 13 rebounds, Malik Monk scoring 16 points and Russell Westbrook contributing 14 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Sacramento has dropped six straight outings.
The Spurs led for all but the game’s first minute, pushing their advantage to 11 points after a Kelly Olynyk 3-pointer at the 1:53 mark of the opening quarter, and to 36-21 on Sochan’s 3-pointer with 9.1 seconds remaining.
Sacramento made a mini-run midway through the second quarter, culling its deficit to 51-43 when Westbrook canned a 3-pointer with 4:54 left until halftime. A 13-5 spurt by San Antonio, capped by another jumper from beyond the arc by Sochan, expanded its lead to 64-48.
But the Kings swung back, drawing to within 67-59 at the break when Westbrook fed Sabonis for an alley-oop dunk at the buzzer.
DeRozan led all scorers with 18 points before halftime, with Schroder adding 14 and Sabonis hitting for 10. Fox paced the Spurs with 12 points at the half while Vassell and Johnson scored 10 each.
