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The content has been modified to: "LaVine's performance helps Bulls defeat Kings in Fox's Sacramento return, as reported by NBC Sports Bay Area"

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SACRAMENTO – Zach LaVine got the upper hand in his first showdown against former Kings star De’Aaron Fox at Golden 1 Center, pouring in 36 points with seven 3-pointers as Sacramento kept rolling with a 127-109 win over Fox and the San Antonio Spurs on Friday.

LaVine, who was acquired from the Chicago Bulls as part of the three-team trade that landed Fox in San Antonio shortly before the deadline, was electric all evening and had the purple-clad crowd roaring. He shot 14 of 22 from the floor, finished plus-23 and is averaging 22.4 during the 13 games that he’s been with Sacramento,

DeMar DeRozan added 22 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for the Kings. Jonas Valančiūnas had his third double-double in his last four games, scoring 15 points to go with 12 rebounds. Keegan Murray scored 19 points and Keon Ellis had 10.

The win kept the Kings (33-29) in the Western Conference’s No. 9 seed. With 20 games left before the 2024-25 NBA playoffs, Sacramento has won eight of 11 and is within 1 ½ games of avoiding the play-in tournament and advancing straightaway to the postseason.

There’s a lot of basketball between now and then, although interim coach Doug Christie’s team is in position to finish the season strong.

The Kings man-handled the Spurs despite missing injured starters Malik Monk and Domantas Sabonis. San Antonio was also short-handed without likely rookie of the year Victor Webyanyama, who is done for the season.

Sacramento never trailed in this one and led by 20 late in the third quarter on the way to the blowout victory.

Here are the takeaways from Friday’s game:

Fox had a few memorable moments during the game, although his first game back at G1C mostly was muted due to the defense of Keon Ellis and Keegan Murray. The two combined to put the wraps on their former teammate, limiting Fox 16 points on 6 of 17 shooting.

Ellis, who has evolved into one of the Kings’ top on-ball defenders, flashed his abilities in the first half. He got a clean swipe on the ball and grabbed a steal off Fox then later raced in from behind to swat the ball away as Fox drove toward the hoop.

Rookie Devin Carter and Jake LaRavia also spent time defending Fox but it was mostly the work of the other two that made it all work.

Murray and Ellis are top-tier defenders whose work sometimes gets overlooked because of the Kings’ team defensive issues. There weren’t many issues against San Antonio.

Valančiūnas doesn’t have the all-around game that Sabonis does but the Kings’ 6-foot-11 backup center has filled in nicely while Sacramento’s double-double machine rests a sore hamstring.

While he didn’t put up huge offensive numbers against the Spurs, Valančiūnas played well enough that Sabonis’ absence wasn’t a total trap. Valančiūnas made a nifty behind-the-back bounce pass in the key to DeRozan that led to a bucket. Valančiūnas also showed a nice touch on a turnaround fader near the free throw line in the first half.

Clearly the Kings are at their best with Sabonis healthy and playing, and the hope is that he’ll be back early next week. Before acquiring Valančiūnas at the trade deadine, Sacramento was in trouble any time that Sabonis had to sit out. That’s not the case anymore. Although Valančiūnas isn’t on Sabonis’ level, he’s done a fine job holding things down in the middle.

With Malik Monk missing a second consecutive game due to a toe injury, the Kings got steady production from LaVine and Ellis. The two split time at point guard in Monk’s absence, and the offense didn’t seem to suffer much, if any.

Ellis has done well playing point guard in the past so that wasn’t much of a surprise. LaVine also has experience running the offense, and the Kings seemed to reach another level with him at the point. LaVine was again in attack mode, and once that gear kicks in he becomes very difficult to defender.

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