The Sacramento Kings De’Aaron Fox (5) tries to get a drive in on the San Antonio Spurs Jeremy Sochan (right) at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio on Fri Nov 17, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

The Sacramento Kings (7-4) beat the San Antonio Spurs (3-9) in a game that was close until the final minutes of the game. This was their fifth win in a row in an amazing resilient effort winning 129-120. The Kings handed the Spurs their seventh loss in a row. De’Aaron Fox finished with 43 points.

The Sacramento Kings (7-4) took on the San Antonio Spurs (3-9) Friday night at Frost Bank Center . They continue their road trip after beating the Los Angeles Lakers Wednesday night 125-110 at times leading the Lakers by as much as 20. LeBron James did a great job in the fourth quarter attempting to lead his team to a comeback but fell short. The Kings held on for the win in a great start to this current road trip.

Game recap: The Spurs got a fast start leading 9-0 inside of two minutes forcing Head Coach Mike Brown and the Kings to take an early timeout. The Spurs didn’t back down at all and the Kings were having offensive trouble from the start. Halfway through the first quarter the Spurs were already 4 of 6 from downtown leading 23-7.

With a couple minutes left in the first quarter the Kings chipped away at the Spurs lead and when the clock expired Sacramento trailed by two points 31-29. They had a nice turnaround after trailing by quite a significant margin.

One minute into the second quarter, the Kings had taken their first lead of the game 33-31. Sacramento continued to hang onto the lead in the first half of the quarter. The Spurs refused to go away and mid-way through the quarter had taken back the lead 43-42. The Kings battled back and this game was tied at 62 when the the first half came to an end.

The Kings owned most of the third quarter taking as much as a 16 point lead mid-way through the quarter. The Spurs turned the quarter around trailing by four points with just over three minutes left in the third.

San Antonio continued to threaten cutting the King lead to a single point 88-87. With under two minutes left in the third Malik Monk hit his 5th three of the night. Every time the Kings built a lead, the Spurs erased it and after three quarters the Kings held a 95-94 lead. The Spurs had overcome a 16 point deficit.

The Spurs took the lead to start the fourth quarter 98-95. Seconds later this game was tied at 98 and the Kings Kevin Huerter, Harrison Barnes and Keegan Murray were desperately needed to step up in this game.

As the final quarter wore on, this was anybody’s game. In the final minutes Sacramento pulled it all together with some great defense winning a very challenging game 129-120. The Spurs had a great game and very nearly pulled off a win.

The Spurs Zach Collins had the high for the game with 28 points and the remarkable Victor Wembanyama had 27 points and 9 rebounds.

De’Aaron Fox finished the game with 43 points, eight rebounds, seven assists shooting at 58% from the field. This guy just seems to play better and better with every game . There was absolutely no rust to shake off after he missed five games with an ankle injury just coming back three games ago.

The Kings have now won five games in a row and will take on the Dallas Mavericks next Sunday with tipoff scheduled for 4:30 PM. This will be the ultimate challenge for Sacramento and they will need all hands on deck for this one.