by Charlie O. Mallonee

On Friday night in Oakland, it was Klay Thompson’s world and the rest of us were allowed to live in it.

Thompson did something against the Kings that no player had done in the history of the NBA. He scored 37 points in the third quarter of the game. No player in “the Association” has ever scored that many points in a quarter before Thompson did it on Friday night.

Not only did Thompson score 37 points in the third quarter, he was a perfect 13 for 13 from the field including nine 3-Pointers. Thompson scored 52 points for the game and he sat on the bench for most of the fourth quarter. He finished with 11 3-Point baskets just one short of Kobe Bryant’s NBA record of 12 3-Pointers in a game.

The Golden State Warriors (36-6) rode Thompson’s coattails to a 126-101 win over the Sacramento Kings (16-27).

Marreese Speights put up 19 for the Warriors off the bench to go with 11 from Draymond Green and 10 from Stephen Curry.

Golden State shot 47.9-percent (45 for 94) from the field while going 17 for 40 (42.5-percent) from beyond the 3-Point arc. They were 19 for 22 (86.4-percent) from the free throw line.

The Kings were led in scoring by DeMarcus Cousins’ 28 points in 35 minutes of playing time. Darren Collison added 15 points, Quincy Miller 13, Nik Stauskas 11. Rudy Gay was held scoreless after he was ejected from the game for back-to-back technical fouls at the 8:15 mark of the second quarter.

Sacramento shot 41.5-percent (34 for 82) from the floor and 23.5-percent (4 for 17) from 3-Point range. The Kings shot 85.3-percent (29 for 34) from the charity stripe.

Neither team took good care of the ball. The Warriors turned the ball over 18 times (21 points) while the Kings gave the ball back 22 times (21 points).

Golden State out-rebounded Sacramento 46 to 43.

The Warriors threatened to runaway with the game in the first quarter when they went on a 20-2 run. The Kings did not give up and closed the gap to just nine points by the end of the quarter.

The Kings continued to chip away at the Warriors in the second quarter even after Gay’s ejection. Sacramento took advantage of a cold shooting streak by the Warriors to cut the lead to just five points (56-51) at the half.

The Kings opened the third quarter with an 8-0 run and took the lead 58-56. Moments later Klay Thompson caught fire and literally history was made on the court.

The Kings have now lost six consecutive games. They are 0-3 versus the Warriors this season. Sacramento is now 0-1 on their five game road trip.

Up next:

Kings at New York Knicks on Monday 1/26

Boston visits Golden State on Sunday 1/25