Zach LaVine has his Sacramento moment, fans react to De'Aaron Fox's return

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Winning makes the noise quiet down. The Sacramento Kings improved to 29-28 on Monday night when they hosted a 14-win Charlotte Hornets team at Golden 1 Center. The Hornets were fresh off a 53-point loss to the Portland Trail Blazers and by all accounts are heading the wrong direction this season.

The Kings hit the Hornets hard to end the third quarter and then jumped all over Charlotte in the opening minutes of the fourth on their way to a 130-88 win. The victory is extremely important for a team sitting in 10th place in the Western Conference standings, but the way the Kings won is even more important. 

Over the last two seasons, the Kings have struggled to bring their best against lower level opponents. Any team like the Hornets that has lost by a combined 95 points over two games is a lower level opponent. 

Sacramento needed a win like this. More specifically, Zach LaVine, the key piece involved in the De’Aaron Fox trade, needed a game like this. Regardless of the opponent, LaVine looked like himself for one of the few times since joining the Kings eight games ago.

From the opening quarter, LaVine looked relaxed and more like the player who has scored in bunches over the last 11 seasons. He moved without the ball, worked off of Domantas Sabonis screens and hit his shots. 

After scoring 22 points in the first half, LaVine went quiet in the third. He finished off the quarter with a buzzer-beating layup for his only points in the period, which seemed to give him a bounce in his step. 

When the Kings came out in the fourth, they looked like a different team. LaVine looked like a different player. 

With 10:09 remaining in the fourth, LaVine hit a driving layup to put the Kings up 95-76. When LaVine pulled up for a 30-footer with 6:41 remaining in the period, his 3-pointer gave Sacramento a 37 point lead.