Fox's Late Scoring Surge Pushes Kings Past Heat 115-113
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — De'Aaron Fox scored 11 of his 24 points over the final six minutes, including two free throws with 6.2 seconds left, and the Sacramento Kings ended the Miami Heat's five-game winning streak with a 115-113 victory on Sunday.
Buddy Hield added 26 points for Sacramento. Damian Jones had 18 points and 10 rebounds. Davion Mitchell scored 12 points.
"Made some plays and the team trusts me," Fox said. "It wasn't really the game plan. Just kind of how the game went. We were able to finish this one out."
Tyler Herro and Omer Yurtseven had 22 points apiece for the Heat. Kyle Lowry added 14 points and 12 assists.
After Hield made a 3-pointer to tie it at 99, Miami briefly regained the lead before Fox helped the Kings close out strong.
The Kings point guard connected on back-to-back floaters, then made seven consecutive free throws down the stretch. His last two came after Jimmy Butler's jumper had tied it at 113.
Fox finished 14 of 15 on free throws.
"He did a great job of attacking, of going to the line and shooting them with confidence," Kings interim coach Alvin Gentry said. "Obviously he was in attack mode tonight. You're in their paint and you're doing some good things."
Miami missed a chance to force overtime when Butler missed a short attempt near the rim at the buzzer.
"From our vantage point, everybody thought that his floater had a real chance to go," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "The games don't come to those plays. There's 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.
"Probably should have shot a 3 anyway if I'm being brutally honest," Butler said. "I got to my spot. Just smoked the layup."
The Kings closed the third quarter on a 10-3 run to tie the game heading into the fourth.
FAMILIAR FACES
The Heat's ever-changing roster included a pair of former Kings draft picks on 10-day contracts, Nik Stauskas and Kyle Guy. Stauskas, the eighth player taken overall in 2014, had five points in 13 minutes He spent one season with Sacramento before being traded to Philadelphia and also had stints in Brooklyn, Portland and Cleveland. Guy, a Kings second-round pick in 2019, had seven points and four assists.
TIP-INS
Heat: Butler was 1 of 6 on 3s. … Yurtseven set a season high for scoring and has had 10 or more rebounds in eight consecutive games. .. Spoelstra was given a technical foul in the second quarter. … Miami's list of missing players remains long. It includes Bam Adebayo (right thumb) along with Marcus Garrett, Udonis Haslem, Duncan Robinson and Max Strus, all four of whom are in the NBA's health and safety protocols.
Kings: Tyrese Haliburton had 12 assists. … Richaun Holmes has been entered into the health and safety protocols.
UP NEXT
Heat: Face the Warriors in San Francisco on Monday. Miami has won four of the last five against Golden State.
Kings: Play the Lakers in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The teams split a pair of games in November.
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