The Sacramento Kings played above the level of their competition, and put away the Golden State Warriors in convincing fashion, winning 112-94. De’Aaron Fox and Harrison Barnes led the Kings with 21 points each. Fox went to the locker room at one point due to pain in his shoulder but was able to return. 10 of Fox’s 21 points came in the fourth quarter, despite the obvious discomfort he was dealing with. Harry Giles had another solid game, finishing with 13 points and 9 rebounds.

The Kings didn’t play a perfect game by any means, but they took care of business and played well above the Warriors. It’s a moral victory in that sense, but the Kings have been prone to playing down to their competition and it was nice to see them play a mostly complete game against an inferior team.

Quarterly Recaps

Injury notes: Marvin Bagley III and Richaun Holmes are both OUT. Draymond Green is OUT for GSW.

The Kings started off the game really well as Harry Giles was the main point of attack. Giles made two lefty hooks while also intercepting a pass on defense. Harrison Barnes eventually took over the quarter making two threes and finishing with 14 points on 6-7 shooting. Bogdan Bogdanovic drilled two tough angled threes for eight points. The problem was still the free throws, as Sacramento shot 3-7 in the quarter. But the defense forced six Golden State turnovers and capitalized on those en route to a 33-23 lead after one.

The second quarter started slow for both sides, as the Warriors progressed on building a house with their bricks but the Kings weren’t exactly doing much on offense either. Cory Joseph making a three was the only made basket for a while. De’Aaron Fox left earlier in the game due to “right groin tightness” but would return midway through the second. Giles continued to impress despite getting his third foul. Free throws continued to be a problem, however. A low scoring quarter would end 55-43 at the half. Barnes led the way with 16 points followed by Bogi’s 11, but Fox and Buddy Hield shot a combined 2-12 overall. Andrew Wiggins scored 14 points to lead the Warriors. Golden State shot 1-17 from deep, but were still in it.

This is where Sanjesh’s WiFi went out. The rest of the game will be covered by Greg, who was drinking plenty of beer because he had no expectation of needing to write coherent thoughts about this game.

The third quarter was butt. The Kings lost the third quarter to the Warriors. The Warriors suck, so this was pretty sad. Luckily the Warriors are so bad that the Kings still held a comfortable lead.

In the fourth quarter the Kings finished strong. Buddy Hield hit three straight threes to put the Kings comfortable in the lead, and Sacramento never looked back.

***

While the Kings remain 4 games back of the 8th seed, they are just one game back of the 9th seed after both Portland and New Orleans lost tonight. Memphis is missing Jaren Jackson Jr. and Brandon Clarke right as they hit a tough part of their schedule. The Kings playoff hopes are still a longshot, but they certainly aren’t dead. The Kings have a soft part of their schedule upcoming, and they’ll need to continue to beat the teams they’re supposed to beat, while surprising a few teams along the way.

But for now let’s not worry about playoff dreams. The Kings won. Let’s dance!