Sacramento Kings forward Matt Barnes, left, battles Boston Celtics center Al Horford, center, and Boston Celtics forward Amir Johnson for the ball during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2017, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

by Jerry Feitelberg

The Sacramento Kings, currently in 10th place in the Western Conference, snapped the Boston Celtics 7-game winning streak Wednesday night at Golden 1 Arena by a score of 108-92. The Kings depleted by injuries to Rudy Gay, Garrett Temple, Omri Cousins, and Ty Lawson, who left the game in the second quarter due to a strained left hamstring, were able to defeat the Atlantic Division leaders. They were down to just seven players, but they got production for all of them in recording the win. Also, All-Star center, DeMarcus Cousins, sat out the game as he was given a one-game suspension for recording his 16th technical foul of the season in Sacramento’s last game against Chicago.

The Kings, under head coach Dave Joerger, have,  in two of their last three games, beaten the NBA’s best team, the Golden State Warriors and the Atlantic Division leader, the Boston Celtics. Without any doubt, the confidence level of the club has to be sky high as they are just 2 1/2 games out of a playoff spot. Former Warrior, Matt Barnes had this to say about the Kings confidence level ““We’ll see next game, you know what I mean?” forward Matt Barnes said. “We had a great game against the Warriors and then came out flat the next night. That’s one thing that I preached after the game, let’s keep taking steps forward. We may not win all the games, but we want to continue to improve as a team. We’re too far into the season to take steps back.”