from sfgate.com: Sacramento Kings’ Harrison Barnes (40) shoots over Golden State Warriors’ Kevon Looney, left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020, in San Francisco.
By Jerry Feitelberg
San Francisco- It was another tough night for the Warriors on Monday as they couldn’t make three-point shots. The Sacramento Kings could, and they won 112-94.
The Kings scored the first basket of the game and never relinquished the lead. The Warriors were trailing 9-8 when the Kings went on a 12-2 run to lead 21-10. The Warriors turned the ball over six times in the first period. As a result of the turnovers, the Kings put 10 points on the board. Sacramento led by eleven 33-22 to end the first quarter. The Warriors’ offense went to sleep to start the second period.
They scored a total of two points in the first five minutes of play. Sacramento wasn’t much better. They scored seven. The rest of the period was fairly even. The first half ended with Sacramento leading 55-43. Andrew Wiggins led the Warriors with 14. Marquese Chriss had 13 points and five boards. Former Warrior Harrison Barnes paced the Kings with 16. Bogdan Bogdanovich had 11. As mentioned earlier, the W’s could not make a three. They were one-for- seventeen from behind the 3-point arc. Sacramento made six threes.
The Warriors offense woke up in the third quarter. The Warriors went on a 15-2 run to close within four 67-63. That was the last closest they would get. Sacramento regrouped and finished the third period leading 81-73. The Kings’ three-point sharpshooter, Buddy Hield, hit three threes in a row to start the quarter. The Kings now led by 17. The Warriors’ Damion Lee finally knocked down some threes. He connected three times in the second half to keep the W’s within range. However, they could not catch the Kings. Sacramento beat the Warriors for the third time this year, 112-94.
Game Notes and Stats- The big news of the night was that Steph Curry will return to action Sunday night when the Warriors travel to Phoenix to play the Suns.
Sacramento won for the ninth time in the last 13 games to improve to 24-33. The Kings have improved and are within 4 games of the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth seed in the Western Conference. The Warriors dropped to 12-46. They own the worst record in the NBA.
The Warriors head coach, without defensive stalwart Draymond Green, had another makeshift lineup. Many of his players had not spent a lot of time with each other on the court. They played hard, but the play was ragged. There were some bright spots. Marquese Chriss finished with a double-double.
He finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Chriss left the game in the fourth quarter. He missed the last game with a strained calf, and he appeared to be hobbled by it Monday night. Andrew Wiggins had 16, Damion Lee had 16 and was 3-for-7 from three-point range. Jordan Poole had 13, Eric Paschall 12, and Ky Bowman 10. The W’s shot 44% from the floor. The W’s made 4 threes in 28 tries. Lee had three of the four. The Warriors bench tallied 18 points. Ky Bowman had 10 of the 18.
Sacramento won the game from the three-point line. They made 13 threes in 30 tries. The eight-shot difference accounted for 24 points, which were more than enough to secure the win for Sacramento. De’Aaron Fox led the Kings with 21. Barnes had 19, Bogdanovic 17, Hield 19, Harry Giles 13, Corey Joseph 11, and Kent Bazemore, another former Warrior, nine.
The Warriors host the Los Angeles Lakers Thursday night at the Chase Center. The game will start at 7:30 pm.
