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Kings 114, Warriors 106: Sacramento’s Inside Game Outlasts Golden State’s Perimeter Barrage

By | 0 Comments | Feb 19, 2019

Sacramento wasn't bad from three themselves (10-22) but most of their damage came inside, with 56 points in the paint. They also got a bunch of 2nd chance opportunities thanks to 20 offensive boards, 13 snagged by JT and DeMarcus.

The first half was a back and forth affair, with neither team able to wrest control from the other. DeMarcus got it going inside early, but Dorell Wright was absolutely killing the Kings from outside. That opened the court up for other Warriors, and then they started hitting threes.

Sacramento started to finally pull away in the 3rd quarter, also known as Marcus Thornton Time. Thornton was a monster in the quarter, going 7-8 from the floor for 18 points and hitting all four of his three point attempts. Tyreke Evans also chipped in 8 points during the quarter, and John Salmons was huge on defense, getting all 5 of his steals here, leading to Kings breakaway layups. It looked like Sacramento would run away with the victory, up 11 after three and with all the momentum.

Eight minutes into the quarter, Golden State finally regained the lead, on one of those Klay Thompson three pointers at 95-94. John Salmons quickly answered back with a three of his own, but Nate Robinson tied it back up again, and a couple Sacramento turnovers later, the lead was 99-97 Warriors on a Brandon Rush dunk with just two minutes left going into a timeout.

The gameplan from here forward seemed to be to get the ball into Tyreke's hands. I was a bit confused as to why Marcus Thornton, who had a stellar third quarter, barely touched the ball in the fourth despite his reputation for coming up big in crunch time, and the fact that he's a much better shooter than Tyreke is. Nonetheless, Tyreke got the ball and missed a short jumper out of the timeout. The Kings defense held on the other end and forced a 24 second violation by the Warriors. This is where the Kings bigs come up huge.

John hit the first free throw but was a bit long on the second, clanking it off the iron. Jason Thompson had a huge tap out however that went right to Tyreke Evans, and Golden State was forced to foul him. Tyreke made both of his free throws, and the lead was three at 102-99. At this point the only thing that could hurt the Kings was a three pointer, and it was the one thing that Golden State had done really well all night. You'd think that means the Kings would stick to their shooters right?

Wrong. Coming out of the timeout, Nate Robinson drove it on the line and the Kings collapsed inwards. Klay Thompson did a great job of coming around a screen on the right baseline and lined up for a short corner three. Robinson dished it to him and he delivered, tying the game. The final play of regulation was much the same as we've seen the past few years: Tyreke wanting the ball in his hands and nobody else touching the ball. I love Tyreke, and thought he had a wonderful overall game, but this is a habit he needs to break. He tried to shoot a fadeaway jumper over Dominic McGuire, and it missed, as is expected. Fortunately there was no time remaining for the Warriors to try their own game winner, and we went into Overtime.

The Overtime period saw a return to form for the Kings. They struck first, thanks to a John Salmons three pointer, and didn't let the Warriors come close after that. Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis came in after sitting the entire 4th quarter and were non-factors. Tyreke did a great job on Curry all night (11 points on 14 shots) and Salmons continued his good play on Ellis, whose only points in the period came when the game had already been decided and nobody bothered to guard him.

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