Malik Monk finished with 26 points in the Kings’ victory over Houston.
Thursday’s game against Houston came down to crunch time for the Kings, who lost a nine-point lead and trailed by one with two minutes remaining. The Kings found a way as DeMar DeRozan, De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk were clutch in securing a victory over one of the best teams in the league.
Before we dig in any deeper and get into how the Kings have come up big in the biggest moments, we must define clutch situations.
“Clutch time is defined as the final five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime when the score is within five points.”
Got it? Great.
The Kings have found themselves in multiple close games this season. They’ve played in 24 games that qualify as clutch situations out of 41 games played. That’s the third-most in the NBA, behind the Timberwolves (26) and Warriors (25). Consistently winning those 24 games is something that takes time and experience, which is reflected in Sacramento’s record – they’re 11-13 in those contests. In their last 10 games, the Kings have been in five clutch situations and are a perfect 5-0 in that span, with Doug Christie as head coach.
In Thursday’s win over the Rockets, DeRozan, Fox and Monk all factored into the clutch moments. 26 of DeRozan’s 33 points against the Rockets came in the second half. 16 of them came in the fourth quarter. He made all seven of his free throws. Fox dished out multiple fourth-quarter assists and made all five of his free throws with under 40 seconds to play. Monk also chipped in 12 fourth-quarter points. It was a collaborative effort from the Kings’ top scorers the fourth.
Sacramento went 20-for-22 from the charity stripe Thursday which is good for a 90.9% clip. That’s been a theme for this team and a factor in its ability to win close games. They rank fourth in the NBA in FT% in the clutch and 2nd in FT% overall. Fox’s efforts from the line helped give the Kings a two-possession cushion with 15 seconds to go.
Fox ranks second in PPG in the fourth quarter (7.4) and DeRozan ranks 11th (6.4) among players with at least 30 games played this season. In clutch situations, DeRozan and Fox are fourth and fifth respectively in PPG (among players with at least 15 such games). Sacramento already had one of the league’s best clutch players in Fox before bringing in DeRozan this offseason. In fact, Fox won the inaugural Kia Clutch Player of the Year award for the 2023 season and DeRozan finished third while a member of the Bulls.
Thursday’s win was a microcosm of how Sacramento gets it done. The Kings play in close games; that’s been a consistent throughline all season. The difference, compared to earlier in the season, is that now the Kings are winning these close battles thanks to its collection of vets with ice water in their veins when the game is on the line.
