Golden State Warriors Fall To Sacramento Kings In Thriller

The Sacramento Kings went on the road and beat the Golden State Warriors for the first time in four years, 134-133. The game was absolutely electric but it was the Kings who got the last laugh as Curry failed to get a shot up as the clock winded down to end the fourth. Harrison Barnes had a career game as he put up 39 points against his former team. Kerr once again kept the same starting lineup with Curry, Klay, Wiggins, Saric and Looney.

Looney won the opening tip and Curry buried a three pointer to start the scoring. On the King’s next possession, Kevin Huerter answered with a long ball of his own. Threes continued to rain down, as Saric got one to fall and Barnes nailed two, helping Sacramento take an early 13-9 lead. A minute later, after Sabonis connected on a shot from beyond the arc extending the lead to 21-13, Curry took over. He converted an and-1 before striping three threes in a row and trimming the deficit to 28-25 with three minutes on to play. The Kings remained unconscious from downtown, as Davion Mitchell and Trey Lyles traded threes to bring their lead right back to seven. To close out the quarter, Curry poured in his fifth three but Fox got a floater to go and knocked down two from the line to make it a 40-32 ballgame after one. Both offenses continued to thrive in the second, but it was the Warriors who hit the 40 mark this time. Cory Joseph, Kuminga and Klay all cashed in on treys to start the second and just like that Golden State cut the lead to 45-43. Two minutes later, Klay was fouled on a three and hit all three freebies to give the Dubs a 48-47 advantage. The lead was short lived as Mitchell and Huerter took turns burying three pointers to give Sacramento the lead right back, 53-48. The back and forth battle continued, as Saric hit a three before Kuminga converted an and-1 to knot it up at 61 with just over three to play. After a flurry of fouls and free throws, the Warriors went into the break down just three, 75-72.

The third period was neck and neck the entire way. The Dubs would creep up and look like they might take the lead countless times, but could never break the seal. Finally, with 90 seconds to play in the third, Draymond tied it up at 99 on a free throw from the charity stripe, but missed the second keeping the score even. Then on the King’s final possession of the quarter Barnes drained one from the corner to put Sacramento up 104-101 going into the fourth. These two teams have grown to know each other quite well, and have developed somewhat of a rivalry over the past year. Neither team wanted to lose this game. Fast forward halfway through the fourth, and the Dubs remained down three, 117-114. With Chase Center on their feet after a huge Wiggins three, Iowa product Keegan Murray silenced the fans with a deep trey. Kuminga responded with a massive and-1, bringing the Warrior’s within three once again. But the Dubs just couldn’t get a stop. Murray went to the line following a Draymond foul, and calmly hit two free throws making it a 122-117 game in favor of Sacramento. Curry came down court and hit a ridiculous step back jumper with a hand in his face, and after a Barnes miss, Curry got to the rack for another bucket trimming the lead to one, 122-121. With the building about to explode pending a King’s miss, Fox absolutely striped a three from the wing, giving the Kings a four point cushion. Then, after a Podz missed corner three, Fox came down court and poured in another deep ball, extending the lead to seven, 128-121. With the game in the balance, Kuminga converted another and-1, and Steph nailed a three cutting the lead to one with three minutes to play. But Barnes came up clutch, getting back to back buckets and giving Sacramento a five point lead with two to play. On a must score possession, Curry got a tough shot to fall, and after a huge stop, Curry drove in a lobbed one up for Kuminga who flushed it home making it a 132-131 game with just over 60 ticks left. Fox missed a three, and the crowd erupted as Kuminga put back a Steph miss to give the Warriors their first lead of the second half, 133-132. All the Dubs needed was one stop, but after forcing two misses, Sabonis grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back for an easy two. Kerr called a timeout, and drew up a play for Kuminga to get the ball in the post. He got the look he wanted, but JK lost the ball on his way up and the Warriors were forced to foul. Shockingly, Huerter missed both free throws, but instead of calling timeout to draw up a play to potentially take the lead, Kerr let the Warriors run a scramble drill. Klay picked up the rebound off the missed free throw, and got it to Draymond who got it to Steph. Steph dribbled left and stepped back but didn’t like the look and as he dribbled back right he lost control of the ball and time expired. Game over. Warriors lose in heartbreak fashion, 134-133.

Barnes led the way for Sacramento with 39 points on 7 threes. Fox had 29 himself while Sabonis had a stellar 18 points, 8 boards and 13 assists. Keegan Murray put up 14 and Huerter had 12 while grabbing a surprising 10 rebounds. Usual star Malik Monk was quiet off the bench with 4 points, but Davion Mitchell recorded 10 including 3 threes. For the Warriors, Curry had 33 on a 13-26 clip with 6 threes. Kuminga put together another incredible game with 31 points on 12-19 from the field. Wiggins, Thompson and Saric had 17, 16 and 14, while Draymond accounted for 5 points and 11 assists. 

First and foremost, hats off to Jonathan Kuminga for yet another stellar performance. He is playing the best basketball of his career right now and it’s not even close. He is averaging over 20 ppg in the month of January, and doing it with excellent efficiency. Now that I have given him his flowers, what is wrong with Steve Kerr. I was yelling at my TV to call a timeout after the Huerter missed free throw. I simply just do not understand how you can see your team have absolutely nothing going and not call a timeout to draw something up. I assume he didn’t want to let Sacramento set up their defense, but after Steph crosses half court and there is absolutely no sign of any progress towards the hoop or a good shot, you have to call a timeout with a couple seconds left. It baffles me that he just let it play out. I truly hope if another situation like this arises later in the season, he learns from this mistake. Taking a look at the box score, the Warriors played a great game offensively, but just couldn’t get the necessary stops on defense. They shot nearly 56% from the field and a wild 51% from beyond the arc. They turned the ball over 13 times which isn’t awful but definitely not ideal. My last thought on this game, where is TJD. He was getting meaningful minutes for a 10 or so game stretch, and contributing at a high level, but for some reason he has fallen out of the rotation recently. I am a little confused why. I hope he gets back on the court soon.

This loss drops Golden State to 19-23, and several games out of the play-in tournament. They will get a day off before LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers come to town on Saturday night. This will be a big game on National TV. Unfortunately I just think Anthony Davis is too much of a mismatch and the Warriors will not be able to find stops. I’ve got the Lakers coming into town and knocking off the Dubs 128-122 in a close game.