De’Aaron Fox scores 43 but playoff hopes fade as Kings lose seventh in a row to Pelicans
De’Aaron Fox scored 43 points against the New Orleans Pelicans for the second time this season, but again he left the floor in defeat as the Kings suffered another crushing blow to their fading playoff hopes.
Brandon Ingram had 34 points, seven assists and six rebounds, leading the Pelicans to a 117-110 victory over the Kings on Monday night at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. Sacramento stormed back from a 26-point deficit to get within four in the final minute, but the Pelicans held on to hand the Kings their seventh consecutive loss.
Zion Williamson had 30 points with six rebounds and four assists for the Pelicans (25-29), who moved within a half-game of the Golden State Warriors for the final play-in spot in the Western Conference. The Pelicans also padded their lead over the Kings (22-32), who now trail the Warriors by four games with 18 games remaining, and gained the tiebreaker advantage by winning the season series against Sacramento.
The Kings shot 43.3% from the field and made just 10 of 35 (.286) from 3-point range. They got to the free-throw line 37 times but only made 22, shooting 59.5% at the stripe.
“You want to find ways to lose, that’s a good one,” Kings coach Luke Walton said.
Fox agreed and pointed the finger at himself after going 8 of 15 at the free-throw line.
“It’s a different game if we make half of the ones we missed,” said Fox, who also scored 43 points in a 128-123 loss to the Pelicans on Jan. 17.
Harrison Barnes had 16 points, 11 rebounds and three steals for the Kings, who trailed by 23 at the half. Maurice Harkless added 15 points, five assists and two steals. Rookie Tyrese Haliburton finished with 12 points and six assists after starting in place of Buddy Hield, who was out with an illness, ending his streak of 272 consecutive games.
The Kings went up 13-12 on a basket by Fox midway through the opening period, but they were outscored 19-6 over the final 4:37 after Walton went to his bench. The Pelicans led 31-19 at the end of the first quarter and went up by 19 early in the second.
New Orleans extended its lead to 26 on a 3-pointer by Eric Bledsoe late in the first half. The Pelicans led 68-45 at the break after shooting a sizzling 58.7% from the field in the opening half. The Kings shot 36.6% and made just 1 of 15 (.066) from 3-point range.
“We got a lot of open shots and we just didn’t make them,” Fox said. “Shots really just weren’t going down and that kind of took the energy out of what we were doing.”
The Kings were already without Hield, who missed his first game since 2017. They got more bad news at the halftime break when center Richaun Holmes was ruled out for the second half due to right hamstring tightness.
Damian Jones started the second half in place of Holmes and provided a nice spark just days after signing a 10-day contract with Sacramento. The Kings cut the deficit to 12 at the end of the third quarter and got within five on a pull-up jumper by Fox with 2:28 remaining.
The Pelicans led by seven with 18.4 seconds to go when Naji Marshall was called for a flagrant foul on a 3-point attempt by Barnes. Barnes made all three free throws to get the Kings within four. Sacramento also retained possession as a result of the flagrant foul, but Fox missed a 3-pointer that would have cut the deficit to one.
“My mom and dad are probably going to watch this so I’m not going to cuss, but I think we’re all very irritated,” Haliburton said. “We obviously want to win. I think there are some people who might doubt our effort or how much we care, but we get along very well. We want to win.”
Hield’s streak ends
Hield was ruled out due to a non-COVID-19-related illness shortly before tipoff, bringing an end to his streak of 272 consecutive games.
Hield had not missed time since Nov. 20, 2017, when an ankle injury forced him to miss two games at the start of the 2017-18 season. This was just the third game Hield has missed in his five-year NBA career.
Hield is averaging 16.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists this season. He passed Mitch Richmond for second on the Kings’ all-time list for 3-point goals in Saturday’s loss to the Utah Jazz. Hield has 997 3-pointers in 312 games for the Kings. He needs 74 more to break Peja Stojakovic’s franchise record of 1,070. Hield was on pace to break the record in the final game of the regular season, but after missing Monday’s game he will come up just short if he maintains his current average of 4.0 3-pointers per game.
Up next
The Kings will come home to play the Washington Wizards on Wednesday at Golden 1 Center before going out on the road again to face the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks.
The Wizards (19-33) posted back-to-back wins over the Orlando Magic and Golden State Warriors before suffering a 134-106 loss to the Suns on Saturday.
Fox hit the game-winning shot with seven-tenths of a second remaining to give the Kings a 121-119 victory over the Wizards on March 17 in Washington, D.C. Fox led the Kings with 28 points, seven assists and five steals. Bradley Beal had 29 points for the Wizards. Russell Westbrook posted a triple-double with 26 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists.
Injury report
Kings: OUT — Marvin Bagley III (hand); Buddy Hield (illness).
Pelicans: OUT — Nickeil Alexander-Walker (ankle); Lonzo Ball (hip); Josh Hart (thumb).
Kings upcoming schedule
April 14 vs. Washington Wizards, 7 p.m.
April 15 at Phoenix Suns, 7 p.m.
April 18 at Dallas Mavericks, 4:30 p.m.
April 20 vs. Minnesota Timberwolves, 7 p.m.
April 21 vs. Minnesota Timberwolves, 7 p.m.
