Category: NBA

Sacramento Kings Thursday night game wrap up: Kings end four game skid in Dallas, win 104-101

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by Michael Martinez

picture credit Ronda Churchill/AP

Wednesday night in Dallas was an important match up for the Sacramento Kings. The team headed into the night on a four gaming losing streak and a 22 game losing streak on the Mavs’ home court. Overall, the Kings put in a tremendous team effort and were able to defeat the Western Conference’s sixth seed, Dallas Mavericks, 104-101.

Rudy Gay was in the starting line up for the Kings who played tough against Dallas in the first quarter. The Kings’ only flaw was five turnovers but they did a great job of rebounding and passing the ball. Rajon Rondo had four of the Kings’ eight assists in the quarter as he headed back to Dallas.

Sacramento struggled with the three ball to start the game, 0-7, but managed to stay in it. Nobody on the Kings scored more than four points and the Mavs got a nice first quarter out of David Lee. After one, the Mavs led Sacramento, 24-19.

The Kings played an even better second quarter. Marco Belinelli came alive with eight points to start the quarter for the Kings, who would go on an 11-4 run. Sacramento moved the ball extremely well throughout the half, but best of all they played great defense. The Kings did not allow the Mavs to get inside and forced Dallas to shoot out on the perimeter, who shot 1-11 from beyond the arc at the half.

At the half, the Kings held a 50-45 and shot well in the half. The team did a better job with the ball, only one turnover in the second quarter. DeMarcus Cousins and Rondo had a team high with eight points apiece with Rondo adding seven assists.

The Kings did much of the same in the third quarter as the second.

The Kings kept the momentum from the second quarter.With 7:38 remaining,  Ben McLemore  had a fast break jam causing a timeout by Dallas with the Kings up 60-55. Out of the timeout, Sacramento went on another run, 7-2, which finished with a sweet McLemore crossover who nailed a three off the dribble. Dallas was forced to call another timeout. The Mavs did answer back with eight straight points of their own

The third was a very clean half four both teams and Chandler Parson kept finding a way to score for the Mavs. Through three, Sacramento was able to shoot over 50% from the field and hold their lead, 73-69. The quarter was pretty even and both teams had 46 points in the paint. The Kings defense was still very solid, however.

In the fourth, the Kings went on another run, 7-2, to start the quarter off. The run would become an 11-2 run in a little less than four minutes. Belinelli was once again clutch for the Kings as he hit a three to put Sacramento up, 89-76, as Dallas took another time out.

The Mavs were able to make a push and after being down by 14 at one point, were only down by five with a little over a minute left to play. Unfortunately, the Kings could not make a free throw to save their life. At the 35 second mark, Cousins was fouled and missed both free throws. Darren Collison was fouled 12 second later and went one for two at the charity stripe to lead 102-97. Dirk Nowitzki scored very quickly to cut the lead to three.

Belinelli was fouled and missed both free throws. On the second miss, the Kings fought for the rebound and the ball squirted out. Both teams scrambled for the loose ball and Collison came up with it and fouled.

Collison finally put down two free throws for the Kings to go up 104-99 with four ticks remaining. Nowitzki was able to put in a late lay-up for a final score 104-101.

Many Kings player had great games. Cousins finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Rondo notched 18 points and tallied 12 assists.

Off the bench, Collison had 14 points and Belinelli added 16. Belinelli appears to be coming out of his season slump and was a huge spark for Sacramento. The Kings shot the ball extremely well shooting at 52.5% although their three pointers were mostly off. Parson finished with 28 points in the game but the Kings defense was able to hold on and they closed out a fourth quarter for the victory.

The Kings are now 25-35 and will head to San Antonio on Saturday. The team faces off against the Spurs, who clinched their 19th consecutive playoff berth in their last game. Tipoff starts at 5 p.m. as the Kings look to redeem a loss to San Antonio from a couple weeks ago.

Golden State Warriors podcast with David Zizmor: There’s Thunder in the house as Dubs get set for battle with OKC

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by David Zizmor

photo credit: smartegrades.co–Golden State’s Stephen Curry gets his ankle worked over by a trainer as he sat out Tuesday night vs. Atlanta

OAKLAND–Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry who rolled his ankle in a game and sat out last Tuesday and he should be back in the line up tonight against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Oracle Arena. It was a rough looking ankle injury and Curry came back after the Thunder’s Russell Westbrook landed on his leg and rolled his ankle and Curry ended up coming back and played great down the stretch in Oklahoma City last Saturday.

The ankle was still sore on Monday and it was still sore on Tuesday and the Warriors wanted to take every precaution because he’s Steph Curry. He’s a difference maker he’s an MVP the Warriors don’t want to risk any long term injury obviously if it were a really bad injury he would have never came back into the game last Saturday and it shouldn’t be considered a serious injury. What the Warriors were doing last Tuesday they were banking on taking the Hawks on that first game back off the road trip at Oracle and they were resting Curry so they’d be ready to go with Curry when OKC comes calling tonight.

This was a matter of the Warriors playing it safe and Curry is out of the line up, the starters they played pretty well early on and they started struggling because the Hawks started playing pretty strong defense. The Hawks are a good team they’re not as good as they were last year but their still a good solid basketball team.

David Zizmor has the rest of the Warriors podcast please take a listen down below right here at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

 

 

Sacramento Kings Wednesday night game wrap up: Kings Lose in Memphis

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by Tony Renteria

photo credit: sportal.com.au–The Sacramento Kings DeMarcus Cousins led all scorers with 18 points and 16 rebounds on Wednesday night

The Sacramento Kings headed to Memphis to play the Grizzles and fell 104-98 on a Wednesday night.   The Kings had been on a slight roll but recent loses have pushed backed their hopes for a playoff berth.

DeMarcus Cousins has been consistently putting up great numbers as he scored 18 points and grabbed a game high 16 rebounds.  Cousins has been the rock on the Kings offense.  As the Kings have used the up scale and full speed offense they have helped Cousins score points but have they really helped the best big man in the league shine.

Having Cousins run up and down the court at a high paced speed might have countered what could be his best asset, putting his back to the basket and intimidating opponents  down low.

The Grizzles were lead by Mike Conley and his 24 points.   Conley also led the his team with Five assists.

 

 

Warriors protect homecourt without Curry, Iguodala

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By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

photo credit: news.yahoo.com Golden State Warriors Steph Curry sat out with an ankle injury for Tuesday night’s game in Oakland

OAKLAND, Calif — Without the reigning MVP in Stephen Curry (ankle) and valuable reserve Andre Iguodala (hamstring), the Golden State Warriors pulled out all of the stops in a 109-105 victory over the visiting Atlanta Hawks Tuesday night in Golden State’s first home game since Feb. 9 after completing a 6-1 road trip.

Draymond Green hit an off-balanced 3-pointer with the shot clock expiring with 40.2 seconds left in overtime to push Golden State’s lead to 107-103. Playing primarily as a point-forward, Green finished two assists shy of another triple-double scoring 15 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists, and four steals.

Klay Thompson scored 26 points, but struggled for most of the night shooting just 8-of-27 from the floor including 6-of-16 from 3-point range. Thompson did knock down the go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:54 left in the fourth quarter, and another key basket with 11.4 seconds remaining.

With the win, Golden State (54-5) picked up its 43rd straight win at Oracle, and improve to 25-0 at home. The Warriors’ last loss at Oracle Arena was to the Chicago Bulls 113-111 on Jan. 27, 2015.

After getting boat-raced 137-105 in Portland in the first game after the NBA All-Star break, Golden State have won six straight games overall, and have a chance at tying history Thursday night.

With a win over the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder, Golden State would tie the Bulls’ 44-game unbeaten mark at home from March 30, 1995, to April 4, 1996. They are also chasing the `95-96 Chicago team’s record 72-win season.

Paul Milsap finished with 19 points and seven rebounds, Al Horford had 17 points and nine rebounds, and former Warriors’ guard Kent Bazemore recorded 15 points and nine rebounds for Atlanta (33-28), who had won two in a row before entering Oracle Arena Tuesday night.

Tonight’s game marked the beginning of a stretch for Golden State in which it will play 17 of their next 24 games at home.

 

 

Sacramento Kings podcast with Charlie O: Kings hit the road for four games in crucial last bid for a post season spot

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On the Sacramento Kings podcast with Charlie O the Kings are hanging on by a thread in their playoff hopes. They are 2-3 in their last five games and that hasn’t helped them. We talked about this when they got into this five game stretch and they had two games with Denver one at home and one on the road. The Kings really hoped to see that they could win both of those games knowing how their playing on the road in Denver is so difficult.

They did it and pulled it off and they won both of those games and what we talked about it and what the Kings needed to do is to steal one of those big games at home. The Kings had San Antonio, LA Clippers and then Oklahoma City. The problem was they weren’t able to steal one of those games. That became a real problem and in none of those games they got all that close to winning one of those games. If they can come out of there 3-2 in a five game stretch they would be in much better position. The Kings are on a four game road trip which starts on Wednesday in Memphis then Thursday in Dallas, Saturday in San Antonio, and Monday the 7th in New Orleans.

Charlie O is a beat writer covering the Sacramento Kings and does the Kings podcast each week right here at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

photo credit: Sacramento Bee–The Sacramento Kings DeMarcus Cousins holds back from what would be a sure suspension if he fired on the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Steven Adams

 

 

Durant, Westbrook and company too much for Kings

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by Michael Martinez

picture credit Google Images

DeMarcus Cousins was once again a dominate force as he’s been all season. The All Star has been just as incredible since the break and score 31 points since the break while scoring more in the paint. But Cousins’ offensive performance was dwelled thanks to All Stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Not to mention, a couple of the Thunder’s bench put big numbers to help lead the Thunder to a victory. For Sacramento who were without Rudy Gay, their loss to Oklahoma City was their third straight and another loss to a top four team in the Western Conference.  The most unfortunate part of the 131-116 loss, was that Utah and eight place  Houston lost as well so no teams fell back or made progress in the Western Conference.

The Kings got off to a good start against the Thunder in the first quarter. The Kings had a 16-9 about half way through the first thanks to Cousins and Quincy Acy giving the team some spark.

Acy picked up a technical foul after getting into it with All Star Durant. After the Kings had a nice lead, OKC fought right back into it. The Thunder would go on 10-2 run, to grab their first lead of the game at 19-18. From then on both teams went back and forth with the lead and the first ended with the Oklahoma City up, 29-25.

In the second quarter, the Thunder kept shooting well from the field. The Kings kept fighting back to try and cut it close but the Westbrook and Durant duo kept the offensive alive. Unfortunately for the Kings, Rajon Rondo picked up two delay of games for technical fouls after Sacramento had one on the first quarter.

After one half, the Kings were down 61-53 to the Thunder. Through the half C0usins showed how amazing he was with 21 points and six rebound while Darren Collison had the next best eight points for the half. Collison played really well of the bench with eight points in the half.

Unsurprisingly Westbrook and Durant had dominant a first half. Durant scored 17 points on 5-11 shooting and Westbrook scored 14 points with nine rebound and eight assists. The OKC point guard got so close to a  triple double at the half, which further showed how incredible he has been all season.

At halftime, OKC was shooting 52.5% while the Kings shot 44.4% from the field. The Thunder were 8-20 from beyond the arc, which helped them hold a leader. With 11 OKC turnovers the Kings were able to score 16 points, which was the Thunder’s only issue.

DMC once again had a great quarter with eight points and Omri Casspi totaled nine points in the third quarter. The Kings kept thing close but in the fourth the Thunder ran away with the score. Durant totaled 27 points totaled 27 points and Westbrook grabbed another triple double with 20 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists through four quarter.

After two quarters, OKC led 61-52.

Out of the half, Cousins kept showing h0w great he was on offense but Westbrook came through big time for the Thunder finishing with a triple double through three quarters. The Kings kept it close but through three quarters found themselves down 94-84. Westbrook finished the quarter with 18 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists while Cousins tallied 29 points through three. Although the Kings did not turn the ball over much, they allowed the Thunder to shoot at an incredibly efficient rate. Cousins finished with 35 points and 12 rebounds while Rondo scored 11 points and added 12 assists and nine rebounds in Gay’s absence. The Thunder busted the fourth quarter wide open and led to their defeat.

Enes Kanter scored 23 points on 11-11 of shooting while Dion Waters went 8-11 for 22 points. Ben McLemore scored 14 and Omri Casspi scored 16 points in the Kings’ 131-116 loss. Sacramento did not capitalize on  OKC’s mistakes and took a tough defeat.

The Kings will take on the Grizzlies in Memphis on Wednesday at 5 p.m.

 

 

Curry’s 12th three wins game in less than a second

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Photo credit: Sue Ogrocki AP Photo

~ By Pearl Allison Lo

~ As Oklahoma City Thunder’s Enes Kanter’s hands went down with 0.6 seconds left, it was a sign of the unbelievableness that is Golden State’s Stephen Curry, in a 121-118 win Saturday.

The left ankle that took Curry out in the third for five minutes was gone in the rearview mirror, as Curry broke his own NBA single season record for three’s, was the first with ten three’s back-to-back (tweet by Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle) and tied the NBA record for most three’s in a game. His double double stat included 46 points.

Another footnote was the Warriors’ guaranteed playoff spot during the fourth quarter after the San Antonio Spurs beat the Houston Rockets.

The Thunder’s Kevin Durant fouled out for the first time in three years with 4:13 left in overtime. He ended with a season-high seven three’s and a second straight double double, this one 37 points and 12 rebounds. Oklahoma City was +15 with Durant on the floor.

The Warriors trailed for most of the game, but perhaps the short times when they came close were a sign.

Oklahoma City got off to an 8-0 run to start, their biggest lead of the game reaching 14 points with 2:58 left in the first.

Golden State’s Andre Iguodala was their best player in the first. From the bench, he led with eight points, a perfect 4-of-4. Iguodala would also be the one to lead the game to overtime.

Three 3’s from Curry with teammate Marreese Speights in between, made it 41-42 with 4:25 left in the half.  That only lasted 19 seconds.

Curry left the game at 10:29 in the third after an assist to Harrison Barnes. The pass was followed by a consecutive fall with the Thunder’s Russell Westbrook. Westbrook landed on Curry’s left ankle. Curry came back with 5:10 left and his first play was a steal off Westbrook.

The Warriors got to within one again with 3:35 left and tied the game with 2:27 left.

Curry’s seventh 3 pointer with 1:22 left to make it 78-77, gave Golden State their first lead.

Durant doubled his first half three point total with three in the third to lead his team that quarter. His fifth and sixth three at the end of the third gave him 30 points.

Curry and teammate Klay Thompson scored in the double digits, as Golden State scored 32 points.

The Warriors stalled a bit in the fourth, not scoring until 8:56 left.

Another three by Curry made it 92-96 with 2:53 left. Teammate Draymond Green made it 93-96 with a free throw.

With 1:37 left, a Curry three pulled Golden State to within two points.

Thompson then joined the three party with his first, as the Splash Brothers continued the clutch shots, this one with 35 seconds left. Durant hit a three with 14 seconds left, Thompson hit a two, then defensively, stole the ball from Durant as Green saved the ball. Iguodala was then fouled and hit two clutch free throws with 0.7 seconds left. Green defended Durant as he missed Oklahoma City’s last attempt in regulation. Green and Iguodala finished a +10 for the game.

In overtime, a steal by Green precipitated Curry’s 10th three. Curry’s 11th tied the game at 110 with 2:29 left. Thompson hit another three with 1:29 left. He finished with 32 points.

Game notes: The Thunder outrebounded Golden State by 30 and had 20 more paint points. Other double doubles in the game were earned by Oklahoma City’s Serge Ibaka, a season-high 20 rebounds and 15 points and Westbrook, 26 points and 13 assists. Green’s, 14 rebounds and 14 assists, had a little more to it. He tied a season-low in points with two and had a season-high six steals. Both teams were 3-0 in overtime before it started. The Warriors will be back at it, kicking off March against the Atlanta Hawks at 7:30pm

Golden State Warriors podcast with David Zizmor: Can Dubs realistically claim Bulls all time best record of 72-10?

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by David Zizmor

Of the five loses of the Golden State Warriors the losses to Portland and Detroit were real games where the Warriors lost rather than the other team fighting back to win it. There could be circumstances where Steph Curry, Draymond Green, or Klay Thompson not playing. In the Portland game the Warriors lost their composure if you watch that game the refereeing was bad and it didn’t help and the W’s let the bad officiating got in their head.

It took them out of their game and it ended up getting really sloppy and it just kind of got away from them at that point and let’s be fair their a good team. The Trailblazers if the season ended today they’d be in the playoffs. The Blazers aren’t a team to trifle with their a very good team and Damian Lillard he’s from Oakland and he led the Blazers in scoring in the Warriors last visit to Portland.

David Zizmor does the Warriors podcast each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen below for more

Kings Get Lesson at Home

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By Tony Renteria

photo credit: businessinsider–San Antonio head coach Gregg Popovich showed his wares with a huge win over Sacramento on Wednesday night at Sleep Train Arena

The Sacramento Kings (24-31) were riding a mild hot streak as they hosted the red hot San Antonio Spurs (49-9) at Sleep Train Arena on somewhat chilly Wednesday night in the state Capitol.   The Kings tried to keep pace in the first quarter but fell behind early in the second as they fell to the visiting team 108-92.

The Kings are normally paced by All Star DeMarcus Cousins who is averaging over 27 points per game, but Cousins was a cold 1 for 10 from the field in the first half with only 1 point on the stat sheet. Cousins struggles doomed the Kings as went in the second half down by 11 points.

The Kings who usually struggle in the third quarter fought back to get with six points as the fourth quarter started but the experience of a Gregg Popovich led team pushed the lead up in the fourth by ten points to seal the win.

While everyone on the planet is looking at the Golden State Warriors quest for 73 wins this season the Spurs are putting together an amazing season.  Their current record of 50-9 is second best in a tough Western Conference.

The Spurs were led by point guard Tony Parker who not only had a solid 23 points but six assists as well.  Tim Duncan was scoreless in just over eleven minutes on play on 0-2 shooting.

The Kings leading scorer was Cousins who came back in the second half with 21 points to finish with 22 points and ten rebounds for a double double.

The Spurs who are now on a three game winning streak head to Utah tomorrow to face the Jazz while the Kings try to rebound against the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday at Sleep Train.

The Warriors win it down the stretch, defeat the Miami Heat

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by Jerry Feitelberg

AFP photo: Golden State’s Stephen Curry drives past Miami’s Goran Dragic in Wednesday night’s game in Miami

They did it again. The Miami Heat were not gracious hosts as they gave the Warriors all they could handle. However, it was the Steph and Klay, down the stretch in the fourth quarter, that provided the firepower to propel the Dubs to their 51st win of the season as they beat the heat 118-112.

The Dubs did not play well in the first quarter. They shot just 30%from the floor. Miami, led by Dwayne Wade and  Hassan Whiteside had a 31-18 lead with about one second left in the period. Steph made a forty-foot three-point shot as time expired to close the gap to nine. Steph led the Dubs with fourteen points, but none of the other Warriors were playing well.

The Heat had a ten point lead with just 2:45 left in the half. The Dubs went on a 10-2 run to cut the lead to four. The first half ended with the Heat leading 55-51. Curry led the Dubs with eighteen and Klay Thompson added twelve. Draymond Green had seven rebounds. The Heat’s leading scorer was Dwayne Wade with eighteen. Whiteside had fifteen points off the bench, and he was a force all game long. Rookie Josh Richardson added eight, also coming off the bench. Miami scored twelve-second chance points in the half as they outrebounded the Dubs 31-29

The second half was twenty-four minutes of terrific basketball. The Dubs trailed by one when Draymond Green made a layup to make it a 55-54 game. Steph hit a three to give Golden State their first lead of the game. The Dubs led by four 63-59, but Dwayne Wade made a three-point shot. Neither team could get anything going, and the lead changed several times before the Heat pulled slightly away as the third quarter ended with them holding a three-point advantage 83-80.

The fourth quarter was a thriller. If you like basketball, you had to love the play of both teams in the last twelve minutes of the game. There were, at least, thirteen ot fourteen lead changes. The game was tied several times, too. The Dubs’ Klay Thompson was hot, hot and hot in the fourth period. The Splash Brothers were at the top of the game in this period. Klay and Steph made several key three-point shots in the stanza. The Warriors led by three with 3:05 left in the game. Luol Deng tied the game with a three-pointer. The Dubs went ahead by one 107-106 with just sixty-five seconds left. The Heat scored a bucket to put them ahead 108-107. Steph then hit a three with twenty-four seconds left to play. Draymond made two free throws to give the Dubs the lead 112-108. The Heat made two free throws. With 18.5 seconds left, the Heat fouled Steph. Steph made the two free throws.  Klay Thompson then made the defensive play of the night to secure the win for Golden State. The Heat took a timeout so that they could put the ball in play from the forecourt. The pass to Goran Dragic was intercepted by Klay. As he headed down the court, he was fouled. The refs ruled that he”had a clear path to the basket.” He was awarded two free throws and possession. Klay made the free throws to put the Dubs in the driver seat. The Warriors win 118-112.

Game Notes- Steph Curry tied an NBA record when he made another three-point shot in the game. Curry tied Kyle Korver’s record of 127 straight games making a three-point shot. the Warriors improve to 51-5. Curry led all scorers with forty-two points, and he also made six three-point shots. Klay Thompson also had a big night.Klay tallied thirty-three and was the man in the fourth quarter. Harrison Barnes added eleven. The Heat had five players in double-figure in a losing effort. Luol Deng scored sixteen. Goran Dragic had thirteen and Josh Richardson knocked down fifteen. Dwayne Wade had a season-high thirty-two and Hassan Whiteside tallied twenty-one.

Warrior coach Steve Kerr had this to say  about his dynamic duo “when they both do it on the same night, we are tough to beat.” Kerr also said he “didn’t like the start of the game.” We”were not playing our style.”

The Warriors play the Orlando Magic Thursday night in Orlando.