Photo credit: @warriors

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Golden State Warriors traveled to Sacramento to face the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center on Friday night. The Kings, who had been at the bottom of the league for years, are now becoming a much tougher opponent. They are built around guard De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield. Willy Cauley-Stein is playing the best basketball of his career and Nemanja Bjelica helps out from the forward position.

The Kings’ coach is Dave Joerger, who used a slow-paced offense when he was at Memphis. He now has guys who can run, and the Kings play a fast tempo type of game. The Warriors also like to run, and they did just that as they started out strong, but had to come back from a 10-point deficit with 3:03 left in the game to beat the Kings 130-125.

Both teams played offense in the first half. The defense was nowhere to be found as the Warriors scored 76 points in the first half and led the Kings 76-64 after the first 24 minutes of action.

The Kings won the third period as they outscored the Warriors 33-27 to finish the period trailing 103-97. The Warriors’ offense ground to a halt in the fourth quarter as the Kings kept the pressure on and led 123-113 with 3:03 left. The Warriors’ big three of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Kevin Durant went on a 10-0 run to tie the game at 123. Fox made a bucket to give the Kings the lead 125-123. The Warriors scored the last 7 points of the game to stun the Kings, and the Kings fans went home shaking their heads in disbelief as the Warriors snatched victory from the jaws of defeat once again.

Game Notes and Stats: The Warriors had four starters in double figures. Steph Curry led the team with 35, Kevin Durant had 33, Klay Thompson 27 and Kevon Looney added 10. Draymond Green was a monster on defense with 14 rebounds and 10 assists for another double-double. The Warriors’ bench tallied 23 points. Jerebko was the leader with 8.

The Kings’ Buddy Hield led his club with 27. De’Aaron Fox had 25, Willie Cauley-Stein 22, and Nemanja Bjelica added 18.

The team stats were almost identical. The Warriors were 44-for-96 from the floor, while the Kings came in at 45-for 96. Each team made 15 3s. The Warriors made 7 more free throws than the Kings, which turned out to be the difference in the game. The Warriors outrebounded the Kings 60-42. The Warriors committed 18 turnovers

The Warriors improved to 20-10, and the Kings are now 15-13.

Up Next: The Warriors return home to face the Memphis Grizzlies Monday night at Oracle Arena. Game time is at 7:30 pm PST.