De'Aaron Fox is the engine that is driving the Kings to the NBA playoffs and he is doing so in impressive fashion.
After scoring 33 points on 12-of-22 shooting from the field (54.5 percent) in Sacramento's 128-127 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday at Golden 1 Center, Fox has scored 30 or more points in eight straight games and shot better than 50 percent in the last seven.
In doing so, Fox is the first guard since Michael Jordan in 1996 to score 30-plus points on at least 50 percent shooting in seven straight games. Jordan did it in eight straight games from January 6-23.
The 25-year-old also added seven rebounds, seven assists and one steal. But for Fox, he just played within himself in Sacramento's (37-25) big win over the Clippers (33-33) in a rematch of last week's 176-175 double-overtime thriller.
"I just go out and I play, man," Fox told Morgan Ragan and Kenny Thomas on "Kings Postgame Live" after the win. "My team instills confidence in me, they put me in position to succeed and the least I can do from them is go out there, play my game and just try to dominate the game from start to finish.
"And I feel like I've done a good job of that and for me, it's just more important that we're coming up with wins right now."
Since the All-Star break, Sacramento has done nothing but win. During the Kings' win streak, they have beaten the Clippers twice, Oklahoma City Thunder twice, and the Portland Trail Blazers.
Fox's fingerprints have been all over those wins -- especially in crunch time -- and he notes that Friday's matchup with the Clippers had extra weight to it because of what happened a week ago.
"It felt like after that game, you put up 175 points, you probably shouldn't lose," Fox continued. "As a team, especially getting geared up for the playoffs, you have to become desperate because you can fall out of the standings real quick.
"And so with that, obviously they lost last night, they came in here wanting to win, they came out hit us first and I feel like we were able to respond."
And leading the Kings' retaliation effort Friday night was Fox. His aggression and willingness to lead Sacramento during its winning streak is not lost on Kings sharpshooter Kevin Huerter.
"De'Aaron's just been aggressive, really consistently every game it feels like for the last month, just imposing his will," Huerter told reporters postgame. "That's something that great players do, obviously all season long, and going to need him to do for us moving forward."
Because of the attention Fox garners whenever he gets the ball, Kings standout rookie Keegan Murray noted how the game has opened up for him and the rest of the team.
"With Fox, just his ability to create, he draws a lot of attention and we have a lot of guys, one through 10, on our bench that can get a bucket in a variety of ways and it's just really fun to play with," Murray told Ragan and Thomas.
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Overall, during Fox's personal streak, he is averaging 34.1 points per game on 57.4 percent shooting from the field.
In the one game he scored 30 points but shot under 50 percent came against the Houston Rockets in a two-point win. Ironically, it was that game that started the streak.
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In the end, Fox is just doing his part to help the Kings break their NBA-record 16-year playoff drought.
And any history the 25-year-old makes along the way is just an added bonus.