Sacramento Kings forward Sasha Vezenkov (7) reaches out for the basketball as the Golden State Warriors guard Gary Payton II (0) at the Chase Center in San Francisco on Wed Nov 1, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Golden State Warriors won a nail-biter Wednesday night as they downed the Sacramento Kings 102-101 at the Chase Center in San Francisco. The Warriors won their fourth in a row and the second over the Kings this year. As mentioned above, it took work. The Warriors had home-court advantage, and the Kings were without their star, De’Aaron Fox. Fox sprained an ankle in the Kings’ last game against the LA Lakers.

The Kings’ head coach, Mike Brown, had Davion Mitchell start instead of Fox. Brown could have put Malik Monk in the starting lineup but felt Monk was better coming off the bench. When Brown was an assistant with the Warriors, he was instrumental in helping the Warriors become one of the best defensive teams in the NBA.

Brown took that knowledge to Sacramento and turned the Kings into a defensive powerhouse. The Kings also have a potent offense led by Fox and Domontas Sabonis. With Fox out, the Kings knew the defense would be necessary if they hoped to get a win over the Warriors.

It was a nip-and-tuck affair for all four quarters. The first half ended with the Warriors up by a point, 56-55. The Kings’ defense held the Warriors to 18 points in the third quarter to lead by five 79-74. The Warriors knew they had to find a way to beat Sacramento.

The Warriors fought back. The fans felt the winner would be the team making a crucial bucket in crunch time. That is exactly what happened. With 33 seconds left, Warrior guard Stephen Curry made a two-point bucket to give the Warriors a one-point lead, 100-99.

The Kings big man, Sabonis, answered with a basket to put the Kings in the lead 101-100 with 15 seconds left on the clock. Brown did not want Curry to get the last shot. The defense was keyed on Curry. Somehow, Klay Thomson got free and took the shot from about 17 feet. Thompson, a future Hall of Famer, saw his shot go in for the score. There was 0.2 seconds left. The Kings could not do anything. The Warriors win.

Game Notes: With the win, the Warriors are now 4-1. The Kings are 2-2. Both losses have been the the Warriors.

The Warriors had six players in double figures. Curry led the club with 21. Curry made four threes. Dario Saric was great on both ends of the court. Saruic put 15 points on the board and six rebounds. Saric was excellent at defending against Sabonis throughout the game. Green had 13 points and nine assists. Andrew Wiggins and Thompson each had 14 points. Jonathan Kuninga added 12. 

The Kings also had six players in double figures. Sabonis led the Kings with 23. Malik Monk, coming off the bench, had 16. Mitchell had 13, Harrison Barnes had 14, Keegan Murray had 10, and Kevin Huerter had 11.

The Warriors are back on the road to face the Oklahoma Thunder on Friday night in the first game of the in-season tournament for a 5:00pm PT tip off.