AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli

By Robert Steward

SACRAMENTO–

The Golden State Warriors ran their winning streak to four against the Sacramento Kings Tuesday night with a 121-96 victory. While Klay Thompson did not come close to a repeat performance the last time the teams met on January 23rd, when he scored an NBA-record 37 points in the third quarter, hitting 9 three-pointers en route to scoring 52, the result was the same: another Golden State victory. Sacramento, fresh off snapping an eight-game losing streak at Indiana this past Saturday, jumped out of the gate quickly and lead 7-0 with only 2 minutes gone in the game. They eventually stretched it to their biggest lead of the game at 20-10 with 6:05 left in the quarter. The Kings’ Ben McLemore had the hot hand in the early going, hitting 4 of his first 5 shots, including 3 of 4 from 3-point land. After that, however, Golden State completely took over the game, going on a 19-2 run, including 15 consecutive points to finish the quarter leading 29-22. Sacramento missed its last 8 shots in the quarter, while the Warriors heated up from the floor and shot 58% for the quarter compared to the Kings 36%.

Sacramento’s woes continued into the second quarter as they missed their first two shots and turned it over 3 straight times. Meanwhile, Golden State ran off the first 8 points of the quarter before the Kings’ Jason Thompson ended the 23-0 Golden State run with a jumper at the 9:37 mark to make it 37-24, Warriors. But the high-scoring Warriors came right back with a 3-pointer by Leandro Barbosa and then got a lift off the bench from Marreese Speights, who hit 5 of 8 from the floor in the quarter, including scoring 8 straight points. Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins was repeatedly chirping at the referees, no doubt frustrated by the lack of fouls he believed should have been called on the Warriors, who were certainly physical with the Kings’ big man in the middle. Golden State continued to light it up from the floor throughout the quarter, grabbing their biggest lead of the half, 63-40, right before the quarter ended with Sacramento trailing, 63-42. Golden State maintained their hot shooting, finishing at 58% for the half, while the Kings were only shooting 37% from the floor. The Warriors also dominated the Kings in the paint and on fastbreak points, outscoring the Kings, 32-14 and 24-8, respectively.

Golden State opened up the third quarter much like the second quarter, going up 69-44 following a 3-point shot by Harrison Barnes. But Sacramento made a brief run at that point, with McLemore and Rudy Gay hitting back-to-back 3-pointers, followed by a jumper by Darren Collison to cut the deficit to 17, at 69-52. But, as was the case throughout the game, anytime the Kings even threatened to get remotely close, the Warriors had an answer every time. Golden State’s Klay Thompson hit a 3-pointer to end Sacramento’s run and shortly thereafter the Warriors had pushed their lead back up to 78-56. Sacramento then did their best to make it a game, going repeatedly to DeMarcus Cousins in the low post and Rudy Gay began to heat up. A 17-7 run by Sacramento, fueled by Cousins and Gay scoring 15 of the 17 points, cut the lead to 12 at 85-73 with 2:36 left in the quarter. The Warriors’ Andre Iguodala ended the run with a trey and the Warriors closed out the third quarter leading 94-80. Gay scored 14 in the quarter, while Cousins scored 11.

The Warriors hammered away at the Kings on the boards in the 4th quarter, outrebounding the Kings, 16-6 in the quarter. The Kings were still in striking distance, trailing 101-86 with 8:44 left before Golden State ran off 12 points in a row to open up their biggest lead of the game at 113-86 with 5:31 left, essentially ending any hopes of a Kings comeback. For the game, Golden State outrebounded Sacramento, 49-34, while also dishing out 33 assists to the Kings’ 17. A balanced scoring attack and a deep bench played dividends for the Warriors tonight, as they had 5 players in double figures, lead by Stephen Curry with 23. Iguodala and Speights both chipped in 17 off the bench, with Thompson scoring 14 and Barbosa contributing 12 points, also off the bench. The Kings were led by Cousins, who had his usual strong game, finishing with 26 points and 11 rebounds, to go with 4 blocked shots. Gay had 20 points, while McLemore and Darren Collison both scored 18 apiece. Strangely enough, McLemore, who started strong and made 4 of his first 5 shots in the opening 6 minutes of the game, took only 4 more shots for the duration of the game, making 2. Golden State improved to 38-8 overall, while the Kings fell to 17-30.

Up next for the Kings will be the Dallas Mavericks, as they come visit Sleep Train Arena on Thursday night at 7pm.