HALFTIME RECAP WITH HIGHLIGHTS: 10 Turnovers And 3-For-14 On Threes Have Warriors Trailing Sacramento Kings, 58-51

GOLDEN 1 CENTER, SACRAMENTO, CA — Two nights after losing to the Grizzlies at home, the Golden State Warriors took a bus up the Bay and spent the night in ”Cowbell Kingdom” to face the Sacramento Kings (15-21).

The Warriors were at full strength, and placed James McAdoo on the inactive list. Damian Jones was on assignment with D-League.

Q1: Disjointed

DeMarcus Cousins started the game with a low post spin move for a dunk, as Klay Thompson chased a cutter away from the play.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr didn’t like the body language, which was a problem in the last game, and he pulled his first “Gregg Popovich” move by calling an immediate timeout, just 18 seconds into the game, so that his squad could reset its mindset.

Out of the timeout, Zaza Pachulia scored on a slip pass by Stephen Curry, but the Kings kept the pressure on, while Curry committed two straight turnovers on a jump pass caught hanging too long and a bad touchdown pass attempt to Klay Thompson.

It wasn’t until 8:37 remaining that Curry was able to halve the score to a 12-9 deficit, as Anthony Tolliver’s runner went too hard and Draymond Green got the board in stride, hitting Steph on the left wing as he trailed the transition.

On the next Warriors possession, Pachulia got two successive offensive rebounds and fed the second one to a cutting Kevin Durant for a jumper to cut the Kings lead to 12-11 with 7:33 to play.

Tolliver answered with a triple, Steph punched back with a three of his after Green pushed a Garrett Temple missed trey, and hit Curry on the left wing in early offense.

But Darren Collison got past Durant, then Cousins scored and “and-one” by crossing Zaza on the elbow and finishing a lefty, while Rudy Gay got a layup past JaVale McGee on an offensive rebound, and Thompson threw a lob to McGee that was way off the mark for a turnover.

Before that, Durant almost smashed on Cousins with an and-one:

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Out of a timeout, Draymond got a lob to JaVale…

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…then found Andre Iguodala down low for a two-hand jam, but Steph missed a three, a runner, and dribble-and-pop to close out the first frame and the Kings took a 33-24 lead after one.

Q2: Kuts By Klay

Golden State had a rocky start to the second stanza, as Durant turned the ball over on a dribble on the baseline and Shaun Livingston threw an entry pass about a foot too short into David West in the post, as Ty Lawson came alive and burst past the Warriors’ defense twice.

Cousins even hit a catch-and-shoot trey to put the Kings up, 45-30, with 7:50 to go.

But Klay came back with two cuts fed by West, then a third on a curl with Curry setting the weakside pick, Green the assist, and Kings head coach Dave Joerger called timeout as the Warriors cut the lead to 48-36 with 5:58 left.

Temple got a layup dished by Rudy Gay, then hit a jumper over Thompson, only to get answered by Klay on an early catch-and-shoot from Steph for three:

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Lawson missed a drive and Cousins was called for a loose ball foul, which set him off as he kicked and punched a seat on the Sacramento bench, drawing a technical foul from the refs:

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Curry hit the free throw and the Kings’ lead was trimmed to 54-42.

Later, after a touchdown pass from Klay to Draymond, Kerr inserted the “Death Lineup” with 3:22 remaining, Steph got a run-out steal on Collison, later drew a foul on a drive, and after Gay made a bad pass, Thompson got fouled from behind on another backdoor cut, making one of two from the line to cut the Kings’ lead to 56-49.

Temple got a runner past Thompson, but Durant scored a layup on a catch inside the paint.

Temple was feeling it, but missed a triple from the right arc, Iguodala corralled the board in stride, found Green for a touchdown pass, and Gay slapped Draymond, but there was no call.

Green ended up missing a corner three, the Kings missed at the other end and also asked for a foul call, and the half ended with Sacramento up, 58-51.

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(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @filthyphanthoms)