Klay Thompson Nails Game-Winner to Lift Golden State Warriors Past Sacramento Kings
The Golden State Warriors returned home to the Chase Center last night riding a three game win streak. Their opponent was cross town rival, Sacramento Kings. However the Kings were undermanned as their star point guard De’Aaron Fox was out along with role player big man Trey Lyles. For the Dubs, they got both Kuminga and Klay Thompson back after they missed the last game with injuries. It was a game in which the Warriors were expected to win easily, hence the spread -7. But the Kings refused to go down without a fight as they battled till the very end and if not for a last second go ahead jumper by Klay Thompson, they would have pulled off the upset. But they didn’t, and after an up and down game, Klay came through when it mattered, nailing a step back shot with .2 seconds left to lift the Warriors over the Kings 102-101.
Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green put up the first 10 points for the Warriors, with Dray surprisingly knocking down a pair of threes. After Curry got himself a quick bucket, the Warriors were up 12-3. The Kings game plan was clear with Fox out, get the ball down low to star forward Domantas Sabonis. Davion Mitchell hit a three and then Sabonis got to the charity stripe three 3 times in a row going 4-6 to bring the game to 14-10. The ensuing couple minutes were back and forth consisting of a few nice shots from Klay and a pure three ball from Kevin Huerter. Then, after a Kuminga mid range jumper to bring the lead to 5, the Kings went on a 9-1 run to end the quarter 31-28, highlighted by a step back contested trey by Malik Monk. The second period was rather mundane aside from a few noteworthy plays. Jonathan Kuminga knocked down a three pointer and followed it up with a nice and-one the next possession. Curry also sprayed a 32-footer to get the crowd on their feet. He hit another deep one later in the quarter but turned the ball over the next play leading to an easy Malik Monk dunk on the other end. The Warriors won the quarter 28-24 bringing the score to 56-55 in favor of Golden State at half.
Usually it is the Warriors who come out of the break with some energy and have a strong third quarter, but last night it was the Kings. Backup point guard Davion Mitchell got the scoring started with a pullup jumper before Sabonis got an inside look and ex-Warrior Harrison Barnes hit back to back threes. Keegan Murray then scored on consecutive possessions with two nice moves and suddenly the Dubs found themself down 69-60 four minutes into the third. Curry stepped up and hit three free throws from the line before drilling a deep three but another Davion Mitchell long ball kept the lead at six for Sacramento. Then after over two scoreless minutes, Kuminga got a middy to fall and Saric cashed in a three pointer cutting the lead to 72-71. But Malik Monk nailed a tough three before Javale McGee got a second chance bucket and the Kings ended a relatively low scoring quarter with a five point cushion. The fourth and final period was back and forth, with multiple lead changes taking place. With just under three minutes to go, Harrison Barnes was at the line trailing 92-91. He calmly hit two free throws and after a lazy turnover from Curry, Huerter got to the rim for an easy two and the Kings held on to a three point lead. A minute later with 33 seconds to go, Curry got a clutch floater to fall and Golden State regained the lead 100-99. With no De’Aaron Fox, the Kings went to Sabonis with the game on the line and with the shot clock winding down he drilled an elbow jumper off glass to bring the Kings up one. The Warriors elected not to use a timeout, and Draymond brought the ball up court looking to find Steph, but with him smothered, Dray found Klay on the wing and he took a few dribbles left, stepped back, rose over Davion Mitchell, and swished a top of the key jumper to give the Warriors their fourth straight win.
Curry was the only Warrior to crack 20 points as he put up 21 but had a disastrous 7 turnovers. Klay and Wiggins had 14 apiece while Draymond recorded a clutch 13 points and 9 assists. Saric and Kuminga were huge off the bench for the Dubs with 15 and 12 including 4 threes. For Sacramento, Sabonis neared a triple-double with 23 points, 11 boards and 8 assists. All five starters had double digit points as Barnes had 14, Mitchell had 13, Huerter had 11 and Murray had 10. Huerter and Murray struggled all night as they shot a combined 8-26 from the field. Monk came up big for the Kings off the bench with 16 points on 5-9 shooting. Javale McGee had a modest 6 but sharpshooter Vezenkov had an off night going 1-6 with 2 points.
It was another tough night for the Warriors with regards to ball security as they gave it up 17 times. They also got out-rebounded 48-36 but did win the points in the paint battle 46-38. They shot a solid 11-31 from beyond the arc and a very impressive 13-15 from the stripe. Against the Thunder next game they will need to limit the second chance points as OKC has talented big men. One other huge positive for the Dubs is that the chemistry and cohesiveness seems to be clicking. Draymond said after the game that “last year was horseshit.” He went on to talk about how everyone is happy to come to work every day and put the time in to be great. This is great to hear as there were constant rumors about the Warriors dealing with locker room toxicity and drama last season.
The Dubs will get the day off before hosting the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday. This game will be the first of four for the Warriors counting towards the new NBA In Season Tournament. It is yet to be seen the emphasis that players and coaches will put on these games compared to other regular season games, but with a massive cash prize being up for grabs, the game is likely to be substantially more competitive. I predict with star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander out, the Warriors will pick up a solid win over the Thunder, 121-114.