The San Antonio Spurs defeated the Atlanta Hawks 126-125 in De’Aaron Fox’s debut with the team on Wednesday night.
Fox finished the game with 24 points and 13 assists.
“You saw the potential. It’s tantalizing. He’s dynamic. He’s going to unlock a whole different element for our team,” said Mitch Johnson after the game.
With the score tied at 125 and 2.9 seconds left in the game, Fox and Victor Wembanyama ran a pick-and-roll that finished with Wembanyama getting fouled at the rim.
“I’ve told those guys, regardless of how well I’m playing in a game, I draw attention. And that’s what happened. They put two on me. Whether it’s a miscommunication or that’s what they wanted to do, he rolled and tried to finish strong,” said Fox about the final play.
Fox started alongside Chris Paul in the Spurs’ backcourt, with Stephon Castle coming off the bench.
Fox, Paul, and Castle scored or assisted on the first 32 out of 35 points for the Spurs. Wembanyama also shot 4-for-4 on passes from Fox.
“The versatility of who was initiating and then finishing the play [in the first quarter] was such a wide range of combinations that it really — when you’re the other team, you’re trying to find solutions on how to stop or where to turn the water off,” said Johnson about his trio of guards.
