They are the story of the early 2018-19 season. After losing six straight to the Utah Jazz, the Sacramento Kings walked into Vivint Smart Home Arena confident and walked out with a 119-110 win.
Sacramento overcame a big scoring night from Donovan Mitchell and a double-double by Rudy Gobert. Seven players finished in double-figures for the Kings as they picked up their second straight win.
Here are three takeaways as the Kings continued their hot start and improved to 10-8 on the season.
Triple-Double watch
De'Aaron Fox started the game with five quick assists. Then he hit the glass. And then he scored. It all looked too easy for the 20-year-old point guard.
[RELATED: De'Aaron Fox MONSTER Dunk]
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Playing against fellow 2017 lottery pick, Donovan Mitchell, Fox made a run at a triple-double, but finished just short with 17 points, 13 assists and seven rebounds.
In addition to the stat stuffing, Fox cut through the Jazz defense in the third quarter to post one of the bigger dunks of the season.
Dunken-Stein
After struggling a bit over the last couple of games, Willie Cauley-Stein showed up huge against Gobert.
With the Kings pushing the tempo, there were plenty of lob opportunities for the 7-footer. Fox, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Buddy Hield just tossed it anywhere near the rim and Cauley-Stein hammered it home.
The fourth-year center finished the night with 23 points on 11-for-15 shooting and added seven rebounds in the win.
Serbian Surge
Nemanja Bjelica and Bogdan Bogdanovic came to play in the fourth quarter. With the game tightening up, the two Serbian national team went to work for Sacramento.
Bjelica hit a pair of threes to push the Kings' lead to 17 late and when the Jazz charged back, he picked up the And-1 with 25 seconds remaining to stem the tide. Bjelica finished the game with 18 points and seven rebounds.
Bogdanovic shook off a slow and helped stabilize the team late. He scored 18 points, dished out four assists and grabbed four rebounds in 30 minutes. It was the first time this season Bogdanovic crested the 30 minute plateau.
