By: Eric He

The Golden State Warriors’ perfect start continued on Saturday night with an 120-101 win over the Sacramento Kings at Oracle Arena to advance to 18-0.

Stephen Curry led the way with 19 points. Brandon Rush, who started in place of the injured Harrison Barnes, had a feel-good night with 16 points. Draymond Green finished with 13 points, 12 assists, and 11 rebounds for his second straight triple-double.

The Warriors led by 10 at halftime, but broke it wide open in the third quarter thanks to a surprising burst by Rush. His dunk followed by a three gave the Warriors a 61-46 lead. That keyed an 11-2 run by the Warriors, capped off by back-to-back threes by Rush, who had 14 points in the quarter.

Golden State outscored Sacramento by 11 in the quarter to take a 92-71 lead into the fourth quarter, which consisted of a lengthy amount of garbage time.

Their performance in the latter half of the game was a far cry from their start, which saw them fall behind 14-6. But Curry scored 17 of his 19 points in the first quarter to keep the Warriors afloat. Curry’s three with under a minute to play in the first pulled the Warriors within one, and Festus Ezeli’s basket before the buzzer gave the Warriors a 30-29 advantage after one.

The lead soon expanded in the second. The Warriors began the quarter on an 11-0 run, with six points coming from Marreese Speights. The Kings responded with eight straight to get back within three, but in a quarter full of runs, the Warriors poured in an 8-0 run of their own to go up by 11 again.

The Warriors led 56-46 at halftime.