Ellis answers his own call with career performance in Kings’ loss, originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SACRAMENTO – About eight hours before tipoff against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday, Keon Ellis was asked about players stepping up to fill the void left by several injured Kings.

“That’s just space for everyone to come in and perform and show what they can do,” Ellis said Monday morning after the Kings shooting. “So now that the guys are out, I mean, we’re a team for a reason. One guy’s going down.” , it’s the next guy.”

He – and the rest of the world – didn’t know he would be.

Ellis went from an undrafted two-way player to an impact starter for Sacramento last season after turning heads with his defense and locking up big-name superstars like Steph Curry.

He has always been efficient from three-point range, shooting nearly 44 percent from beyond the arc during his time with Sacramento’s G League affiliate, the Stockton Kings. But along with players like De’Aaron Fox and DeMar DeRozan, who demand so much on the ball, and shooters like Kevin Huerter and Keegan Murray, Ellis has always had the mentality of never “doing too much” and his role of what it means team also asks and needs from him.

On Monday night, with DeRozan, Domantas Sabonis and Malik Monk all out due to injuries, the Kings needed Ellis to be aggressive on the offensive end of the floor. He took up the challenge.

“Great job by Keon,” Kings coach Mike Brown said after Sacramento’s sober 109-108 loss to Atlanta. ‘We asked him if you were open to letting that thing go. And tonight he let it go. He can shoot well.

“He shot (44 percent) from 3 when he was in the G League. Last year he was around forty. So we know he could play basketball. And it was great to see him get in there tonight and see him fly.

Ellis let it fly six times without missing before finally seeing a 3-ball rim break midway through the second quarter. By halftime he was 6 of 8 from beyond the arc.

Three minutes and 32 seconds into the third quarter, he surpassed his career-high in points after knocking down three more triples. His previous high was 26 against the Oklahoma City Thunder late last season.

During the course of his heat, several of Ellis’ teammates, such as Monk and Trey Lyles, were featured on the NBC Sports California game broadcast with great reactions to his three-point flurries.

Ellis revealed after the game what his teammates and coaches told him in the midst of it all.

“Guys kept saying let it fly. Same goes for the coaches,” he said. “I think Kevin told me during a timeout, ‘That’s the way you have to chase shots and step into them, just let it fly. Don’t really think about it. If you feel it, especially in the moment that you feel it a little bit, just keep trying to hunt.’ Everyone kept saying, keep shooting.

“So I think everyone knew I was on fire. They just didn’t want me to hit three threes or something and then try to fake the next one and play or make or whatever. They just wanted that I went out there and still tried to be aggressive.”

Ellis finished with 33 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the field and 9-of-15 from beyond the arc, with six rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block in 33 minutes off the bench. He tied Doug McDermott for a team-high plus-15 in plus/minus rating.

“It was great,” Fox said of Ellis’ performance after the game. “I mean, even looking at the trajectory of his career, he’s a 40-percent three-point shooter. I don’t think people gave him the credit he deserves. I think if we start winning at a high level, I think guys, or I think national people, will start to see it.

“But the way he shot the ball tonight was absolutely incredible for us and kept us in the game. He had big moments for us, he even got to the (free throw) line down the stretch. He was big for us today.”

The 24-year-old entered Monday’s game averaging 5.3 points while shooting 34.4 percent from 3-point range on 2.5 attempts per game this season.

Sacramento wants, and often needs, Ellis to attempt more threes than he has, especially when he’s open. But he has squandered several chances in previous games, leading to missed chances and some frustrating turnovers.

But for him, he says he’s always more focused on making the right play than looking for his shot. After Monday’s performance, he finally realized that this might be the right play is he shoots the ball.

“Probably kind of always trying to make the right play,” Ellis said of his hesitation to shoot this season. “Sometimes the right play is just you get in there and shoot it even if someone is open for the ‘one-more’ (pass). Especially with the start we had, just trying to get out there and take every opportunity “We have to try to play aggressively, instead of always trying to make the one-more or whatever it is, but still try to play the right way.”

The Kings don’t need Ellis to drop 30+ every night, especially after getting their reinforcements back in DeRozan, Sabonis and Monk.

But his offensive aggressiveness could be just as impactful as his defensive aggressiveness against Sacramento, even with the Big Three intact again.

“When everyone comes back, we’ll know what kind of talent we have on this team,” Ellis said. “So I think if you add in half the shots I made tonight, and if everyone comes back, that takes us to a whole different level as a team. So trying to keep that aggression and get to where I want to get .” can.”

Ellis is one of the more reserved, even-tempered players on the team.

Even after his two-way contract was converted to a standard NBA contract at the end of last season, he remained level-headed and focused on helping the Kings keep their playoff hopes alive.

His reaction after Monday’s career performance? He credits his teammates for making it all possible.

“I think it’s just because of the talent we have on the floor,” Ellis said. “You force the role players to beat you. So if I make some threes, I’m pretty sure (the Hawks) will adjust a little bit. But I’m not like a Fox-type player, where the teams would just double me or try to blitz me or something.

“They’re going to keep trying to see if I can keep it going. So I think Fox is still putting pressure where they really have to focus on him, and he’s creating the open looks. We still have other guys that you have And then the shots just come where they come from over the course of the game.”

He’s not wrong, but the humble response perfectly embodied the player and person that Ellis is.

And that’s why Brown, who left the post-match press conference unhappy with the loss his team had just suffered, gave one last shout out to the young guard.

“What Keon did was amazing,” Brown said as he left the press room, making sure a disappointing loss didn’t overshadow the impressive performance.

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