Golden State Warriors Jonathan Kuminga (00) gets airborne over the Sacramento Kings Chris Duarte (3) at Golden One Center in Sacramento on Sun Oct 15, 2023 (@BleacherReport photo)

By Barbara Mason

The Golden State Warriors ran their pre-season record to a perfect 3-0 beating the Sacramento Kings at Golden One Center 121-115. The Kings are still looking for their first win of the pre-season. Golden State’s Jonathan Kuminga was again a standout with 28 points and six rebounds.

Sunday evening the Golden State Warriors (3-0) traveled up to our state capital to take on the Sacramento Kings (0-3) at Golden 1 Center in the third pre-season game of 2023-24. Stephen Curry and Chris Paul sat this one out as Klay Thompson, Kevon Looney, Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski started. Both teams have something in common and that is to get back into the playoffs this season. The Kings also have a solid starting roster with De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, Harrison Barnes, Keegan Murray and Chris Duarte.

Warriors game wrap: The Kings had a quick start in the first quarter of the game leading after the first 12 minutes 38-25. Both team’s benches got to see some action in the first half as well. The Kings led by as much as 15 points in the opening quarter.

It was a much closer second quarter with the Kings just edging the Warriors at the half 59-56. The Warriors did win the second quarter 31-21. Both teams’ starting rosters played a little over two quarters and their benches got some extended time on the court in the second quarter.

The third quarter was a close one with the Warriors taking the quarter 27-24 and the score all knotted up at 83 with 36 minutes in the books. The two teams traded the lead throughout the fourth quarter and the game was tied numerous times.

There had been 19 lead changes in this game and most of those lead changes happened in the second half. With 1.7 seconds left in the game it was all tied up at 111. This game would go into overtime and there would be five more minutes of basketball.

The high score for the Kings in regulation was Sabonis with 19 points in 25 minutes of play. Fox had 17 points in 26 minutes. The Warriors had a slew of players in double digits with Kuminga scoring 26 points. Wiggins had 20 points and Thompson finished with 12. Bench players Moses Moody had 13 points and Lester Quinones was impressive with 16.

The two teams continued to trade leads until the final two minutes of overtime when Golden State began to pull away 119-115. The Warriors now have a perfect 3-0 pre-season record and the Kings are still looking for their first pre-season win.

The Warriors will take on the Kings for a second time at Chase Center next Wednesday October 18th. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 PM. There will be two more pre-season games for Golden State before the season begins on October 24th.