In battle of short-handed groups, Kings prime Suns once more

De’Aaron Fox poured in a game-high 29 points, Kevin Huerter backed him with 22 and the Sacramento Kings won a battle of attrition over the visiting Phoenix Suns with a late flurry that produced a 127-104 victory Wednesday night.

Fox, who also found time for a game-high 10 assists, and Domantas Sabonis (11 points, team-high 10 rebounds) recorded double-doubles for the Kings, who beat the Suns a second straight time after winning 127-118 in overtime in Phoenix on Sunday.

Despite playing without injured Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, the Suns hung tough and got within 98-90 after a driving hoop by Devin Booker three minutes into the fourth quarter before running out of gas.

Also short-handed with the absence of injured Malik Monk and having lost DeMar DeRozan to a sore back in the first half, Sacramento saved its best basketball for the final nine minutes, outscoring the visitors 29-14.

The decisive run began with a 12-0 burst that featured 3-pointers by Huerter and Keon Ellis, blowing the game open at 110-90 with just 5:55 remaining.

Fox shot 11-for-17, Huerter 9-for-16 and Keegan Murray 7-for-11 (17 points) for the Kings, who outshot the visitors 64.1 percent to 37.1 percent.

Trey Lyles (13) and Jordan McLaughlin (11) came off the bench to make it six players in double figures for Sacramento, which won for the seventh time in its last 10 games.

Huerter added six rebounds, five assists and three steals, while Sabonis missed a triple-double by one assist as the Kings ran up their largest margin of victory this season.

Josh Okogie had 25 points off the bench to pace the Suns, who were playing their second game in two nights. In between the losses to the Kings, Phoenix beat the Utah Jazz 120-112 on the road Tuesday night.

Booker totaled 18 points while Ryan Dunn, Tyus Jones and Monte Morris added 10 apiece for Phoenix. Jones also had a team-high eight assists while Jusuf Nurkic grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds to go with three steals but just three points.

–Field Level Media