Twilight Zone Benching of De’Aaron Fox
December 15, 2018
The final three minutes Golden State played championship defense, igniting its offense, and that’s not unusual. What is beyond unusual and quite bizarre is that Dave Joerger benched the team’s best player, De’Aaron Fox, because he picked up his fifth foul with little over three minutes to play and the Kings leading by ten. So what he had five fouls with three minutes to play? Who the hell benches their leader with so little time left? During the minute or so Fox was on the bench, the depleted Kings – already minus injured Marvin Bagley and Iman Shumpert – lost half their lead and played awkwardly once Fox returned. I suppose Joerger’s having a fine year, and it’s easy to sit home and criticize, but ask yourselves: how many coaches would bench their star because of a fifth foul in the final three minutes? Would the Warriors have benched Steph Curry or Kevin Durant? Would the Lakers have benched LeBron James? Would the Bucks have benched Giannis Antetokounmpo? Of course not. In this situation, so late in the game, you play your top gun until the buzzer or until he fouls out. And there’s really no indication Fox would’ve picked up his sixth personal. Dave Joerger gutted the King’s spirit and momentum and they lost by five.