SLEEP TRAIN ARENA, SACRAMENTO, CA — The Golden State Warriors (34-2) were at Sleep Train Arena to face the Sacramento Kings (15-21).
The Warriors were without Leandro Barbosa (shoulder) and Kevon Looney (D-League). The Kings were without Omri Casspi (back), who had a three-point shootout against Stephen Curry in the last matchup, as well as James Anderson (hamstring), Duje Dukan (leg), and Eric Moreland (hand).
1st Quarter – 7 Turnovers!
In a close game early, the Warriors got buckets in transition with Brandon Rush getting a triple and Klay Thompson a layup, both assisted by Curry.
Curry also got a step-back three in the corner over Rajon Rondo, but missed on three other tries.
The Kings were doing a good job of keeping pace, with DeMarcus Cousins getting three inside buckets, one of them a stutter step move and attack over Andrew Bogut. Cousins also missed a three-point attempt.
Early on, it was Warriors, 13-11, with 6:56 to go.
Curry got isolated with Quincy Acy, danced around, and dished to Draymond Green on the left wing for a line-drive trey…
Early #SPLASH from @money23green on @csnauthentic. #NBAVote pic.twitter.com/ToP1HGGOJA
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) January 10, 2016
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…but then got a lefty over-the-head pass deflected and Ben McLemore scored the fastbreak layup.
Right after that, Thompson lost the ball while trying to split two defenders from the left wing, looking for a foul but no call, and Rudy Gay converted the layup in transition to give the Kings a 21-16 lead with 4:31 to play.
Klay then missed a triple from the right wing with the ball going over the backboard and out of bounds.
After a timeout with 2:50 left, Warriors interim head coach Luke Walton subbed out Curry for Shaun Livingston and Festus Ezeli for Bogut.
Green got his third trey on as many tries to drop, assisted by Ezeli from the high post, Ezeli scored a dunk on an alley-oop from Andre Iguodala…
Lob alert: @andre to @festus on @csnauthentic! pic.twitter.com/s1pOKB70tN
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) January 10, 2016
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…but Willie Cauley-Stein got a putback of a Kosta Koufos miss with 0.7 seconds remaining, and the Kings took a 27-26 lead into the second quarter.
Green led all scorers with 11 points from those three threes, however, the Warriors were guilty of seven turnovers.
The bench unit which included Livingston, Ian Clark, Harrison Barnes, Iguodala, and Ezeli, did a poor job as they turned the ball over four times, including on the first possession of the second quarter, and only got off one shot, a missed floater by Barnes, in the process.
The worst sequence occurred after Ezeli blocked a Koufus attempt inside, Clark got the outlet, but dribbled into a turnover as Darren Collison took it away and lofted an alley-oop to Cauley-Stein.
On the next inbound, Clark coughed it up again while trying to advance the ball down the right sideline and Ezeli fouled McLemore on the ensuing layup attempt.
Luckily, the Kings weren’t faring much better overall, only gaining three points during that stretch, and with just under nine minutes to go till halftime, Walton subbed his “Big Three” of Curry, Thompson, and Green back in.
Marco Belinelli missed two jumpers in a row and Barnes eventually found Iguodala in the right corner for a triple as Koufos ran him over in the process. Iguodala, however, missed the “and-one” free throw.
Later, Gay hit a triple after a missed layup by Klay, but Curry answered back with a curl-and-catch over Cauley-Stein from the deep left wing:
steph3 curl
Yep. @StephenCurry30 on @csnauthentic. #NBAVote pic.twitter.com/GRezDVsjLU
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) January 10, 2016
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Barnes tacked on a trey from the left corner, assisted by Iguodala, as the Kings were slow on the close-out, and Sacramento head coach George Karl called a timeout. The Warriors tied the game at 39-39 with 6:28 left.
Both teams traded punches after that.
Thompson got a layup on a “tic-tac-toe” from Curry and Green, but Cousins got an inside banker on a bounce feed from the opposite block from Rondo, then Steph’s left-to-right sweep into the lane was answered by Cousins taking Bogut down the lane for free throws.
Barnes didn’t quite look himself as he turned a long Kings miss into a fastbreak layup that missed awkwardly over Belinelli, and Green had been jawing at the refs all night and finally picked up a technical, but Curry managed to score another layup on a catch from Draymond on a post entry from Rush, and at the next timeout, things were still knotted up at 46-46 with 2:48 to go.
Curry tried to create some separation with two triples, but Cousins put Sacramento on his back and got a catch-and-shoot at the free throw line, a dribble-and-pop from the same spot over Bogut, and another one schooling the helpless Bogut with swish jumper pull-up.
But Curry played pick-and-roll with Barnes and Harrison got the ball heading down the right side of the paint and, with Cousins converging, double-clutched for a beautiful hanging right banker at a tough angle, more than making up for his previous unathletic play against Belinelli.
Steph missed a step-back trey with the opportunity for a two-for-one, and Collison drew free throws on Iguodala in the ensuing attack with 29 seconds left. Karl brought in Seth Curry and he and his brother matched up to close out:
Curry on Curry to close out the half. #LetsGoWarriorsLive #DubNation pic.twitter.com/G8e3ZOGwBX
— Margaret Roberts (@careerxprt) January 10, 2016
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Curry then drew a switch and, instead of taking advantage of Acy, flipped the ball from the right wing to the left wing to Green, who calmly drilled another three-pointer to put the Warriors up, 60-58, with 10.5 seconds to play.
Gay missed a three-point try from the top at the buzzer, and the Warriors had a slim two-point margin at the half.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @haileyv123)
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