SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — De’Aaron Fox had 28 points and six assists in his return after missing two weeks with an ankle injury, and the Sacramento Kings gave coach Mike Brown his 400th career victory with a 132-120 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night.
Domantas Sabonis added 23 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds for the Kings, who swept the Cavs a season ago. Keegan Murray had a season-high 25 points with five 3-pointers.
Donovan Mitchell led the Cavs with 22 points despite going scoreless in the first quarter. Caris LeVert had 21 points and Max Strus scored 19.
Sacramento had six players in double figures but the night belonged to Fox, who was repeatedly serenaded with “MVP! MVP!” chants in the second half.
Fox made an immediate impact in his first game back, scoring the first points of the night on a driving layup 11 seconds into the game. A first-time All-Star last season, Fox later scored on a reverse and sank a 3-pointer to help the Kings to a 33-25 lead.
Fox came out strong again in the second quarter, then went cold late before giving Sacramento’s offense another spark in the third quarter. He had eight points, including an emphatic one-handed dunk off a bounce pass in the key from Malik Monk.
Brown, who led the Kings to the 2023 playoffs in his first season with the team, improved his coaching record to 400-254. The milestone win came against one of his former teams, as Brown coached Cleveland from 2005-10 and in the 2013-14 season.
Cleveland got within 126-115 late in the fourth quarter before Fox’s three-point play with 1:26 remaining helped secure the win.
UP NEXT
Cavaliers: Visit Portland on Wednesday.
Kings: Visit the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday.
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