The Golden State Warriors traveled north on Sunday and wrapped up the deal against the Sacramento Kings, beating their Northern California rivals in a 109-90 win. In the second half of a back-to-back dub, the Dubs edged out Klay Thompson, Otto Porter Jr. and Andre Iguodala, but came up against a Kings team beset by injuries and more than a decade of organizational ineptitude.
From the opening tip, things went well for the Warriors. When Draymond Green and Jonathan Kuminga have a threesome, it’s always a great sign for Golden State. They each knocked down a pair of triples in the first quarter. Sacramento, on the other hand, couldn’t create a consistent offense for anything, scrounging just 14 points in the first quarter.
The Dubs led 28:14 into the second quarter, and their offensive always caused a stir. Andrew Wiggins led the game with 15 points at half-time, but Jordan Poole, Jonathan Kuminga and Nemanja Bjelica were all in double figures as well, while Damian Jones, former Warriors first-round winner, was the Kings’ top scorer with just 8 points.
Poole led 65-42 early in the third quarter, knocking down a pair of threes to give the Dubs a 28-point lead. Then the warriors started playing with their food a bit. Her intensity began to waver, and that disinterest opened the door for Sacramento to begin cutting into the big game.
But even an 8-0 run to close out the quarter for the Kings still left them with 14 at the start of the fourth quarter. Bjelica, Poole and Kuminga led a 10-3 run to start the fourth and the lead was quickly back north of 20.
But this Warriors team wasn’t done making things interesting. Instead, a sloppy play by Golden State opened the door for another hot stretch from the Kings, progressively reducing the lead to 14, 12, 9, then 7. After the Warriors watched the Jazz annihilate a 21-point lead last night, there were some starting to worry they would repeat the same mistakes.
However, the Warriors rallied and Wiggins delivered some huge buckets to extend the lead back to double digits. With the clock working against them, Sacramento was never able to gain a significant lead again.
Bjelica was by far the standout player of the game for the Warriors. The backup big man recorded 19 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 blocks. Bjelica has slipped out of the Warriors’ rotation after a hot start to the season, but in recent weeks he has again proven himself a valuable bench goalscorer who can also help orchestrate offense. On Sunday he showed his best performance of the season.
Andrew Wiggins was 8-for-16 from the field, making 5 of his 6 free throw attempts and amassing 25 points, 5 boards and 5 assists. Jordan Poole extended his 20-point streak to 17, with 22 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and a +19 plus/minus game best. Jonathan Kuminga also finished with 17 points.
Rookie Moses Moody slipped further out of the rotation. The lottery tip played just 19.1 seconds before the garbage time. The return of players like Gary Payton II from injury has played a big part in his shortened minutes, but the reappearance of Damion Lee has also played a big part. Lee put in another solid performance off the bench, recording 11 points and 5 rebounds.
The Warriors’ win kept them a game ahead of the Dallas Mavericks for third place in the Western Conference rankings. The dubs have their longest break from what’s left of the regular season over the next few days, where they can rest before hosting the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday, April 7 at 7:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.
Check out our latest postgame show hosted by our very own Marc Delucchi on Twitch: