Sacramento Kings forward Keegan Murray right tries to protect the basketball while Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry tries to reach up for the ball at Chase Center San Francisco on Wed Nov 1, 2023 (AP News photo)
By Barbara Mason
In the closest game the Sacramento Kings have seen this season the Golden State Warriors battled past the Kings 102-101 at the Chase Center in San Francisco. This game was tight from start to finish and in the end it was Klay Thompson with the ultimate clutch shot that won it for the Warriors. Both teams had better offensive and defensive effort in the second half but when push came to shove it was Golden State that prevailed. With less than a second left on the clock Thompson hit pay dirt.
Wednesday night the Golden State Warriors (4-1) were back home at Chase taking on the Sacramento Kings (2-2). The Warriors beat the Kings up in Sacramento less than a week ago 122-114. Both of these teams were in last year’s post-season and will likely repeat in the 2023-24 season. This will be yet another battle between these two northern California teams.
The Kings led after the first quarter 31-28. The Warriors took charge in the second quarter winning it 28-24 and taking a 56-55 lead into the locker room at the half. The defensive pressure from Golden State was lacking in the first half but the Warriors have always been a second half team. They would be looking to tighten up their defense going into the third quarter.
The Kings continued to take charge in the third quarter at one time leading by 11 points 69-58. The slow start the Warriors had in the quarter came to end when they went on a 13-3 run. At one point the Kings had outscored them 14-4 but as the quarter came to an end the Kings continued to lead 79-74 but Golden State had whittled down their lead.
There had been no true separation in this game simply because of how well these two teams know each other and how well these two coaches know each other as well.
The fourth quarter began to reveal a lot of King’s mistakes with missed shots and turnovers coupled with some terrific defense by Golden State. Golden State guard Curry started to hit some of those shots from downtown as we see so often in the second half of games.
The Warriors took the lead in the early minutes of the final quarter but this game remained tight. With seven minutes left in the game head coach Steve Kerr put Curry and Draymond Green, their elite closers, on the court.
At 6:46 left in the game it was all tied up at 83. This game would go back and forth still tied with five minutes left on the clock. Sacramento double teamed Curry for the remainder of the quarter, not unexpected, and something that Curry sees in most every game.
Despite that Curry has an uncanny way of working around opponents defense and scoring anyway. Kevon Looney made some great clean up shots giving the Warriors a one shot lead 92-89 with 3:33 left to play. At 2:53 it was anybody’s game with the Kings up one 93-92. Everyone of the Sacramento’s starters were in double digits.
This game could not have been tighter with the two teams trading the lead throughout. With forty seconds left in the game the Warriors could not make a single mistake trailing 99-98. This had been the closest game either of these two teams had played so far this season.
This time it was not Curry to the rescue it was Thompson who shot over Davion Mitchell to take a 102-101 lead with 0.2 on the clock and that would be the final. Golden State had improved to 4-1 as they head back out on the road to take on the Thunder.
The bench had come into this game giving the Warriors some good minutes but it was Klay Thompson who had a great shooting night in the second half. He finished with 14 points but it was the last shot that he took that made all the difference in this game.
Curry had the team high 21 points. The Warriors continue to struggle with turnovers committing 18 in the game. It may not have been a pretty game but the final score was a beauty.
The Kings played a terrific offensive and defensive game and they might have found a way to win if they had not been without their superstar De’Aaron Fox. Every starter had double digits for Sacramento as they will now head to Houston for a game with the Rockets.
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