OAKLAND — After a game that saw 15 lead changes throughout its entirety, a series of runs and a last-second shot, Golden State came out victorious over Sacramento 117-116 Saturday night at Oracle Arena.
This was the Warriors 19th win in the last 23 games against the Kings and the first of four regular-season meetings between the two Northern California division rivals.
The Warriors started off strong as they looked to get starting center Damian Jones involved in the offense early, running high pick-and-rolls to get Jones a couple of easy layups. Jones would end the first quarter with nine points and finish the game with 13 points, tying his career high.
“I thought Damian looked angry out there to start the game, which I was glad to see,“ Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “He got us off to a quick start with some of his early hoops. I really liked his effort today.”
Despite the Warriors early 16-11 lead, the Kings were able to keep pace as the Warriors committed six turnovers resulting in nine points for the youthful Kings squad. The Kings were able to get out on the break early with nine fastbreak points while also getting 13 points from their bench. Kings forward Justin Jackson was able to hit a straight-away 3-pt shot with two seconds left to give his team a 29-28 lead after one-quarter of play.
The second quarter started with Warriors center Jordan Bell receiving a pass from the top of the key for an easy layup to give the Warriors a 30-29 lead. Warriors forward Jonas Jerebko proceeded to make back-to-back jumpers to increase the team’s lead to 38-35, seeming as if the Warriors had found their rhythm on offense.
This was not the case as the team would commit its seventh turnover of the game by the eight-minute mark of the second quarter which prompted the team to call timeout as the Kings tied the game at 42.
Kings forward Marvin Bagley proved to be a force off the bench for his team in the first half with 12 points and seven rebounds, including grabbing key offensive rebounds to keep Kings offensive possessions alive. The Kings would go on a 17-10 run for the next five minutes to bring their lead to 59-52. The Warriors called another timeout after a turnover by point guard Quinn Cook leading to a Kings’ fastbreak dunk on the other end.
Despite the Warriors committing nine turnovers in the first half and facing their biggest deficit of the night at 10 points, the team managed to end the half on a 10-2 run and trailed just 64-60 at halftime.
Kings forward Iman Shumpert opened the third quarter with a made 3-pt shot, but the Warriors’ offense would wake up from there. Both Warriors forward Kevin Durant and shooting guard Klay Thompson led the Warriors’ offensive attack on an 11-2 run to start the third quarter.
At one point, Thompson would hit three consecutive 3-pt shots, forcing the Kings head coach Dave Joerger to call a timeout to stop the bleeding. At this point, the Oracle Arena crowd would erupt after every Warrior made basket as the team climbed all the way back to take a 76-71 lead with 8 minutes left in the third quarter.
“Those two guys, (Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant) they were fantastic tonight,” Joerger said. “We tried to give them different looks, hit them from different spots but they have done it a long time at a high level.”
Given the Warriors two superstars starting to come alive on the offensive end of the court, this resilient Kings team would not fade away as they survived the flurry of scoring from the defending champions and tied the game at 93. Thompson would hit a 23-foot jump shot with 10 seconds left in the third quarter to give the Warriors a 95-93 lead heading into the final quarter.
Durant opened up the scoring in the fourth quarter to increase the Warriors lead to 97-93, but Golden State and Sacramento would go shot-for-shot with neither team holding a lead larger than five points in the fourth. Kings’ guard Buddy Hield laid the ball up for his team-high 28th point to tie the game at 113, setting up for an exciting finish between the two Northern California division rivals.
Durant was fouled and hit two free throws on the next Warriors possession to give them a 115-113 lead and himself a game and season-high 44 points. This was followed by Bagley hitting one of two free throws and the Kings’ guard De’Aaron Fox hitting two free throws of his own to give Sacramento a 116-115 lead with 26.4 seconds left in the game.
Now with the defending champions in possession of the ball, down one point with the game on the line, they knew they had to use their championship pedigree and grittiness to pull out this victory. The Warriors final offensive possession started with a Durant missed jump shot at the top of the key, both teams scrambled to grab the game’s most important rebound. Thompson would come away with his only offensive rebound of the game and put-back the Durant miss to give the Warriors a 117-116 lead and his 31st point on the night with 5.8 seconds left in the game.
“Well, give credit to Andre (Iguodala). I think he came up with that o-board, which is huge. Gave us a second chance,” Thompson said. “Then, basketball tends to favor the aggressor, and on that last possession when I got the ball I just decided to rip through, go to the rim, try to draw a foul, get a good look and luckily for me it probably was a blocked shot but the ball bounced my way.”
The Kings were in possession of the ball with an opportunity to win and steal a game in Oracle Arena where the Warriors had only lost twice all season coming into the game. The final possession was a wild one as it started with a Hield missed jump shot from the left of the key followed by a Bagley offensive rebound and missed put-back attempt that got wedged in-between the rim and the basket, resulting in a jump ball at half court with 2.1 seconds left. The jump ball was won by Durant over Kings’ center Willie Cauley-Stein, tipping it towards the Warriors basket where Hield secured possession of the ball before Joerger called a timeout with 0.3 seconds left. Hield attempted the game’s final shot for the win, but fell short giving Golden State the thrilling 117-116 victory.
After the game was over, Durant had high praise for the Kings’ budding young talent and commented they have a bright future ahead of them.
“If you hand the ball over to De’Aaron Fox, he will change your franchise. That is the type of player he is, a no-nonsense, come to work type of player. He is going to play for his teammates,” Durant said. He didn’t shoot the ball well tonight, but you can tell he dictates the pace and he made Quinn (Cook) work all night. When you have that guy at point guard, that can change your team. Then you got Buddy Hield who is scoring the ball at a nice rate. Then they got the two bigs off the bench. They got a nice team. They just young right now, but they going to be really good in the future.”
Despite this Warriors victory over a young Kings team, Golden State was still without their other two superstars, forward Draymond Green and guard Stephen Curry, for the third straight game and hope they will be back as soon as Monday’s game against the visiting Orlando Magic.
“Hope those guys come back Monday, but if they don’t we know what works for us. We simplify things, we did a lot more random action tonight. We still played off the post and we’re definitely getting a groove now I feel like,” Thompson said. “Especially, when you feel like you go on a little win streak, your confidence is up and everybody who was in the game tonight, we’re all playing well together right now. We just got to do it again on Monday.”
The Warriors will look to extend their win streak to three games as they welcome the Orlando Magic into Oakland tonight for their only visit of the season with the first tip at 7:30 p.m. at Oracle Arena.
