Mikal Bridges and the Nets were under duress Monday night in Sacramento, suffering their first loss in four games. AP Photo by Jose Luis Villegas
The Brooklyn Nets had their transition game grounded in Sacramento Monday night.
Then watched helplessly as the Kings buried the most 3-pointers in franchise history.
De’Aaron Fox scored a game-high 29 points, knocking down five of the Kings’ team-record 25 3s, as Sacramento rolled to a 131-118 rout, denying Brooklyn a season-high fourth straight win in the opener of its five-game West Coast trip in front of 17,794 fans at the Golden 1 Center.
The Nets (12-10) had won six of their previous seven contests before the Kings (12-8) held them to a season-low two fast-break points, well shy of Brooklyn’s 16.9 average, which ranks second in the NBA.
“Their ability to kind of climb into us, their aggressiveness on the basketball, away from the basketball, plugging gaps, making our angles tough to read was really good,” Nets coach Jacque Vaughn admitted.
Fox went 10-of-22 from the floor and buried half of his shots from beyond the arc.
Keegan Murray was even finer from the field, going 9-of-13, including 4-of-4 from 3-point range, as Sacramento also established a season best with 38 assists.
“We’re a team that can shoot the basketball, and it was evident tonight,” Kings coach Mike Brown told the Associated Press.
“To see us get corner 3s and be able to knock them down was very gratifying because these guys can flat-out shoot and they’re going to share the basketball.”
Malik Monk added 21 points and fellow reserve Trey Lyles had 17, also draining a quintet of 3s, as Sacramento broke the team mark of 23, established on Jan. 9 vs. Orlando.
“Their shot selection,” Vaughn responded when asked why the Kings were so…
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