Sacramento’s shooting woes continue as winless Kings suffer preseason loss to Utah Jazz

De’Aaron Fox missed a long 3-pointer at the buzzer and the Kings remained winless in the preseason after suffering a 117-114 loss to the Utah Jazz on Tuesday at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

Sacramento’s shooting woes continued on a night when the Kings shot 42.9% from the field and 26.3% from 3-point range. Kings coach Mike Brown believes the shots will fall eventually, but going into the game the Kings were last in the league in preseason 3-point shooting at 24.8%.

Keyonte George scored 24 points to lead the Jazz (4-1). Lauri Markkanen scored 21 points. Collin Sexton had 16 points and six assists while Walker Kessler added 10 points, nine rebounds and four of his team’s 12 blocked shots.

Domantas Sabonis had 29 points, 16 rebounds, eight assists and two steals for the Kings (0-4). Fox finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Keegan Murray added 21 points while going 5 of 11 from 3-point range for Sacramento. DeMar DeRozan had 17 points, four rebounds, five assists and five steals. Jordan McLaughlin also filled out the stat sheet, coming off the bench to post nine points, four rebounds, five assists and four steals.

Sabonis scored nine points on 4-of-4 shooting over the first three minutes of the game. He made his first 3-point attempt of the night during that stretch after going 0 of 6 in the first three games.

Sabonis didn’t stop there. He had 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting 10 minutes into the game.

Sacramento trailed 31-30 at the end of a high-scoring first period. The Kings made 12 of 23 (.522) from the field and 2 of 7 (.286) from 3-point range. The Jazz went 12 of 18 (.667) from the field and 5 of 9 (.556) from beyond the arc.

Fox appeared to be favoring his left leg when he exited the game with 5:30 to play in the opening half. Fox was briefly checked by head athletic trainer Joel Noland, but that conversation didn’t last long and Fox returned to the game moments later.

The teams exchanged leads several times in the second period. The Jazz led 58-56 at the halftime break despite a big first half from Sabonis, who had 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting with nine rebounds, two assists and two steals.

The Kings forced 14 turnovers and came up with nine steals in the first half, but they shot just 43.1% from the field and 25% from 3-point range. The Jazz shot a sizzling 60.6% from the field and 53.3% from long distance.

Utah staged an 11-2 run to take a 69-60 lead early in the second half. Sacramento came back to cut a 10-point deficit to four midway through the third quarter. The Kings went into the fourth trailing 87-83 after Fox buried a 50-footer at the buzzer from beyond the halfcourt line.

The Kings tied the game on a floater by Keon Ellis early in the fourth quarter and took a 102-100 lead on a three-point play by Fox with 5:24 remaining.

The Jazz went up 108-105 on a basket by George and 113-109 on a 3-pointer by Markkanen.

The Kings got within one on a dunk by DeRozan with 18.1 seconds to play. Utah pushed the lead back to three on two free throws by George.

Fox appeared to be headed to the free-throw line with a chance to tie the game after being fouled on a 3-point attempt with 3.4 seconds remaining. Utah challenged the call and officials determined the foul occurred before Fox entered his shooting motion.

The Kings were awarded the ball with a chance to force overtime, but Fox’s 32-footer rimmed out as time expired.