Sacramento Kings Pull Off Miraculous Comeback To Beat Golden State Warriors And Clinch In-Season Tournament Bid

In what was one of the most entertaining games of the NBA season so far, the Golden State Warriors choked a 24 point lead to the Sacramento Kings, losing 124-123. Draymond Green made his return to action and wasted no time getting back to his old ways picking up a technical foul and getting the Sacramento Crowd riled up in the fourth quarter. But it was the Kings who got the last laugh as Draymond went 0-2 in the fourth and made a costly turnover late in the game. Additionally, an interesting caveat of the game is that the Dubs knew they not only needed to win the game, but needed to win by 12 points or more to qualify for the In-Season Tournament. 

Likely with that in mind, Golden State came out hot taking an early 18-10 lead headlined by back to back three pointers from Curry and Draymond. Trey Lyles and Harrison Barnes traded long balls but three free throws from Curry kept the Kings at bay. Two minutes later Saric and CP3 nailed threes to extend the Warrior lead to 30-18 but Sacramento ripped off a quick 10-0 burst thanks to several buckets from Malik Monk and a De’Aaron Fox and-1. Though the Warriors threw the last punch of the first as Klay hit three free throws and Gary Payton snagged an errant pass and finished a fastbreak layup giving the Dubs a 37-29 advantage. The Warriors maintained momentum throughout the second quarter as Klay hit a three pointer on their first possession bringing the lead to double digits and they never looked back. Throughout the second the lead shifted between 12 and 18 points but with a minute left, Wiggins drained a wing trey giving the Warriors an astonishing 24 point lead, 72-48. Though the Kings went on a 7-0 run to end the quarter including a Huerter buzzer beater to cut it to 72-55 before the break. Wiggins and Klay led the way in the quarter as they finished with 10 and 9 respectively. This was a sight for sore eyes as the two of them had been struggling the past couple games. 

Sacramento put a significant dent in the lead as they dropped 40 in the third quarter. It was the Huerter show early on as he scored 10 points in the first four minutes capitalized by an alley-oop to bring the Kings within 12. Curry responded with a three from the parking lot before converting an and-1 and just like that the Dubs were back up 18, 91-73. Sacramento closed out the third strong, slicing into the deficit with a Fox three ball and a couple free throws. With the Warriors hanging onto a 104-95 lead, the stage was set for the fourth quarter to be a showdown, as both teams knew the magic number was 12. Golden State was winning the game by 9, but given the circumstances, they needed to win by 12 and therefore were down 3. The crowd got involved early in the fourth as Draymond got whistled for a technical foul, much to the crowd's pleasure. Looney subbed in for him and the next thing you know the Kings were down two after two Sabonis free throws and a De’Aaron Fox bucket. Over the next couple minutes, Moses Moody out of all people caught fire and cashed in three straight shots from beyond the arc to keep pace with the Kings. Then, Steve Kerr made a very puzzling decision and took him out. In addition to this, Curry had been on the bench for several minutes in the fourth but instead of Dray, Kuminga or even Podziemski playing for him, it was Cory Joseph. It was frustrating watching Joseph get blocked on a turnaround jumper leading to an easy Sacramento fastbreak bucket in the clutch moments of a game while Curry could only watch from the bench. I digress, back to the game. The Dubs had possession up by two points with under four minutes to play and on a wild play, Klay swung a pass to Curry who swished a three from the right wing giving Golden State a 119-114 advantage. The game was scoreless until Fox went 1-2 from the charity stripe with 1:42 to play, trimming the lead to four. Curry responded with two free throws of his own but Fox came down the court and drained a clutch three bringing Sacramento within three with a minute on the clock. Draymond missed a three from the top of the key but Wiggins was there to save the day with a putback and the Warriors had some breathing room up five. Fox once again got fouled and went 1-2 from the line but after a Curry turnover, Malik Monk hit a contested step back three making it a 123-122 game in favor of the Warriors with 37 seconds remaining. For whatever reason, the Warriors played as if they were in a rush and Draymond threw the ball out of bounds giving the Kings a chance to take the lead. Forget winning by 12, the Warriors were on the verge of blowing the game straight up. The shot clock was winding down and the ball ended up in Monk’s hands again. He drove into the lane, was cut off by Wiggins but rose up for an insanely tough jumper and somehow got it to fall, banking it off glass. With no timeouts, Klay inbounded to Curry and he dribbled up court, lost control of the ball for a second, regained it, and hoisted an off-balance deep three for the win but came up short. The Sacramento fans rejoiced as the Kings pulled off the improbable and won 124-123 after an electric fourth quarter in which they limited the Dubs to 19 points. 

Curry and Wiggins put up 29 points and 10 boards each, while Klay had 20. In Draymond’s first game back, he had a pedestrian 8 points and 6 boards. Off the bench, the Dubs got solid production from Moody who had 11 points on 4-4 shooting including 3-3 from downtown. Saric chipped in with 10 points and Gary Payton was having a great game until he got hurt and went to the locker room. Speaking of injuries, CP3 also exited the game with a knee injury, though it is unclear exactly what was wrong. If CP3 and GP2 are both out for an extended time, Podziemski and Cory Joseph will get more reps and be forced into pivotal roles as the backup guards. For Sacramento, Fox had 29 despite struggling from the stripe going 9-17. Huerter and Monk recorded 21 apiece while Sabonis was on triple-double watch with 9 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds. Lyles had 11 off the bench and Vezenkov had a very loud 8  points as he hit monumental shots in the fourth quarter to jumpstart the Kings comeback.

Golden State had a great game offensively, as they shot 48.2% from the field including 41.5% from deep. They were also money from the free throw line, getting there 30 times and converting 26 of these attempts. They coughed the ball up 18 times, which definitely didn’t help but it was more the timeliness of the turnovers as opposed to the amount. The turnovers from Curry and Draymond in the last minute cost them the game. Another area of struggle for the Dubs was playing good defense without fouling as they sent the Kings to the line 42 times and committed 31 fouls. There is no getting around the fact that the Warriors absolutely botched this game. The one piece of silver lining in my opinion is that Klay and Wiggins had great outings. If they continue to produce with this efficiency, the wins will start stacking.

Golden State now drops to 8-10 and sits at 10th in the West. They have two games coming up against the Clippers before they will have a ten day break due to the In-Season Tournament. While the Clippers have yet to hit their groove, they still boast one of the best starting lineups in the league with the likes of James Harden, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. If the Dubs can at least split the next two games, I think the ten days off will be a great reset, and they can come out of it with a hungry mentality to rack up wins. With CP3 and GP2 likely out, it will be tough sledding for the Warriors but I believe behind a loud home crowd, Golden State will pull out a win on Thursday 119-113.