The Sacramento Kings came out strong but didn’t have enough fire power to hang with the defending champs, in a 119-104 loss to the Golden State Warriors.
This marked the Kings first game back in Sacramento haven’t finishing off a tough road trip by winning three of their last four games. Fortunes seemed to look similar in the start of this one when the jumped out to a 20-7 lead. However, the Warriors called a quick timeout, took over, and outscored the Kings by 28 points from then on.
Sacramento had strong offensive nights from several players, including six in double figures. Chief among these were Justin Jackson who dropped a career-best 17 points on 7/13 shooting. Jackson also led the team in time played with 35 minutes.
Willie Cauley-Stein made his return to the Kings’ lineup after missing the previous two contests with a right knee bone bruise. He had 13 points on 6/11 from the field and grabbed six boards.
The Kings were able to put some solid pressure on the Warriors, by forcing them into 25 turnovers. The downside, however, is that they were only able to get 17 points off of those turnovers.
The Warriors’ win was secured via a huge night from Kevin Durant. Golden State’s star forward had 33 points on just 17 shots, including 6/7 from downtown. The top team in the NBA also received a combined 43 points from its all-star back court of Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.
Despite the loss, the Kings looked very strong at many points, and the young core had a strong showing. This plays well for what they’re trying to accomplish this season: quality experience and few wins.
Buddy Hield poured on 16 points coming off the bench, while De’Aaron Fox added 14 points. Sacramento falls to 16-35 and stay at home for a game tomorrow night against the Dallas Mavericks.
