Bright lights, big city.
De’Aaron Fox loves playing at Madison Square Garden and on Sunday afternoon he put on a show in the Kings’ 113-92 blowout win over the New York Knicks.
Not only did Fox drop a team-high 24 points and six assists, he might have gotten himself on every highlight reel across the country with two spectacular plays.
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With 5:27 remaining in the fourth quarter, Fox helped stymie a run by the Knicks with an incredible block on Allonzo Trier at the rim.
“I just saw it and I just tried to make a play on the ball,” Fox told NBC Sports California's Grant Napear and Doug Christie following the game. “It’s a lot of momentum if they make that dunk, because they had just got a stop. You don’t want the momentum to shift that late in the game”
A little over two minutes later, Fox picked the pocket of rookie RJ Barrett and went the length of the court for an incredible windmill dunk to put the Kings back up by 19.
“I was thinking about doing a 360 at first,” Fox said. “I was thinking about what to do, but for me, the windmill is like the safe route.”
Fox missed a bigtime jam in the Kings’ win over the Utah Jazz on Friday and that may have been in the back of his mind as he leapt off the floor.
NBA
In his third NBA season, Fox is beginning to show signs that he is ready to take over the leadership of the Kings and certainly a starring role on the court.
“It’s really just dictating the pace of the game,” Fox said. “Obviously you want the ball to move, the ball to pop, but sometimes you’ve just got to slow it down. I’m learning to control the game both offensively and defensively. That’s something that all of the coaches are helping me do.”
At just 21-years-old, Fox continues to show that no stage is too big. Through seven games, he’s averaging 18.6 points and 6.3 assists per game for Sacramento.