Kings-Warriors Preview

By MATT BECKER
Posted Mar 23 2012 3:26PM

The Golden State Warriors put together one of their best performances of the season in last week's emotional win in Sacramento.

They haven't seemed to play with much passion since.

The Warriors try to break out of their funk in a rematch with the Kings on Saturday night at Oracle Arena.

Just prior to their game against Sacramento on March 13, the Warriors (19-26) sent Monta Ellis to Milwaukee as part of a five-player trade. Ellis had been the face of the franchise for the past several seasons and the trade left Golden State stunned.

Despite losing their leading scorer, the Warriors, who were also without Stephen Curry (right ankle sprain), responded with a stellar offensive showing. Golden State shot 50.5 percent, made 12 of 24 3-pointers and committed a season-low seven turnovers in a 115-89 victory, their most lopsided win of the season. Nate Robinson, David Lee and Brandon Rush each had 17 points for the Warriors, who had six players score at least 14.

The victory marked Golden State's third in a row, and the team was within three games of the Western Conference's final playoff spot. The Warriors, however, were unable to build on that win - their lone victory in the last six games came over New Orleans, owner of the West's worst record.

"The last couple of game we haven't come out with the right type of intensity," Richard Jefferson said after Thursday's 109-83 loss to Houston. "We need to improve on that."

Jefferson had 14 points and Lee added 12 for the Warriors, who were outhustled by a Rockets team that scored 58 points in the paint and held a 48-31 rebounding advantage.

This has been a discouraging trend for Golden State, which is allowing 52.0 points in the paint - 20 more than it's scoring - and has been outrebounded by an average of 18.0 boards in its last five games.

"To win games, we have to be the hardest working team on the floor every single night," coach Mark Jackson said.

The Warriors could again have trouble on the glass and with their interior defense against a Sacramento team that has played well over the last week. The Kings (17-30) are averaging 47.3 rebounds in their last four games and finished with 70 points in the paint against Utah on Thursday, but came up short in a 103-102 loss, snapping a three-game winning streak.

Sacramento rallied from a 14-point, third quarter deficit and led by one on Marcus Thornton's layup with 4.1 seconds to go, but Al Jefferson put back a Devin Harris miss with 0.9 seconds remaining for the game's final basket.

"We did everything we could to get ourselves back into this game," coach Keith Smart said. "We were one defensive stop and one rebound from winning."

DeMarcus Cousins finished with 22 points and 18 rebounds, while Jason Thompson added 19 points and 15 boards. Thompson suffered a sprained left ankle in the closing seconds, but is hopeful to play against Golden State.

Against the Warriors last week, Cousins had 19 points and 12 rebounds but Thornton, Sacramento's leading scorer at 18.9 per game, finished with nine points on 4-of-13 shooting.

Thursday's loss wrapped up a franchise-long nine-game homestand for Sacramento.

The Kings haven't played on the road since an overtime loss to Denver on March 5, and haven't won away from home since Feb. 22 in Washington. Their 4-20 road record is second-worst in the league.

Lee, Thompson lift Warriors past Kings, 111-108

By ANTONIO GONZALEZ
Posted Mar 25 2012 2:06AM

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) On any other night, David Lee's 5-second violation in the final moments might've cost the Golden State Warriors a win. It was the kind of head-scratching turnover almost nobody can top.

Except the Sacramento Kings.

Isaiah Thomas dribbled the ball of his leg attempting a crossover against Lee on the next possession, handing the Warriors a 111-108 victory in a turnover-filled finish typical of two teams at the bottom of the Pacific Division.

"It's a great learning experience, but it's no fun unless you win them," Lee said. "You can have all the learning experiences you want and never win a game."

The learning curve is large in Northern California these days.

Lee finished with 22 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists - one shy of his third career triple-double - and rookie Klay Thompson scored a career-best 31 points to help the Warriors take the season series 3-1 against the Kings. Thompson's previous career high of 27 points came three days earlier in a win at New Orleans.

"We made some mistakes, but at least we fought through it," Thompson said.

DeMarcus Cousins had 28 points and 18 rebounds, and Tyreke Evans scored 16 points for the erratic Kings, who had won three of their last four and started to show progress under former Warriors coach Keith Smart. Instead, Sacramento is still stuck at the bottom of the division and four games back of Golden State.

"Mistakes that we make, growing pains, we got to go through them," Smart said. "Hopefully, these games will help us as we move forward."

The inconsistent effort highlighted two undermanned teams likely headed for the NBA draft lottery.

Sacramento clamped down defensively and held Golden State scoreless for almost 3 minutes late in the fourth quarter. The Kings scored 10 straight points during the stretch, going ahead 104-102 on Evans' short jumper with 3:44 to play.

After Richard Jefferson made a free throw, Lee tipped in a rebound. Then Thompson squeezed a pass between two defenders and Lee finished with a reverse layup to give Golden State a 107-104 lead. The teams traded baskets before Sacramento sliced the deficit to one on Isaiah Thomas' layup with 42.3 seconds left.

With the shot-clock dwindling down, Terrence Williams - in his first game with Sacramento - blocked Thompson's shot and raced down court on a 2-on-1 break. But he lost control going up for a layup, and after a short review, officials ruled Williams knocked the ball out.

It wouldn't be the last mishap.

With Lee inbounding the ball, the Warriors were whistled for a 5-second violation, giving Sacramento possession with 14.3 seconds remaining. A third straight turnover followed when Thomas dribbled the ball off his legs and out of bounds near the 3-point line.

Lee threaded a near full-court pass to Jefferson for an easy dunk, and Evans missed a potential tying 3-point at the buzzer in desperation to send Sacramento to one of its ugliest losses in a season filled with them.

"I've done that move so many times. I got the separation that I wanted, I knew what I was going to do with it. It just didn't get to my right hand," Thomas said of his late turnover. "I was going to shoot it. I just didn't handle it right."

In what was a struggle for both teams, neither could pull away.

Thompson paced Golden State's simmering start, hitting two 3-pointers during a 10-0 run to go ahead 14-4 in the first quarter. Without a strong inside presence defensively, the Warriors struggled to hold leads.

Sacramento answered with nine straight points later in the period that whittled the Warriors' cushion to one. Cousins also had a thunderous one-handed slam over rookie Jeremy Tyler, who started at center in place of Andris Biedrins (strained right groin) for the third consecutive game.

Warriors point guard Stephen Curry also missed his seventh straight game - and 20th this season - with a sprain in his surgically repaired right ankle. Replacement Nate Robinson strained his right hamstring and didn't play in the second half, but he should be back against Portland on Sunday night. And new center Andrew Bogut, acquired in a trade with Milwaukee that sent leading scorer and fan favorite Monta Ellis to the Bucks, already had a fractured left ankle and is likely out for the season.

"We're going to make mistakes," Warriors coach Mark Jackson said about his limited lineup. "But the thing I like about it is, even after David Lee got the 5-second call, we were in the huddle saying, `It's OK, it's OK. It's all right, it's all right. Let's get this stop.' That's what winning teams do."

Ellis' replacement has had no problem filling in the extra minutes.

Thompson finished off a 21-point first half with a 19-foot jumper from the corner and made two free throws after getting fouled on a hard-driving layup. The Warriors led 62-51 at the break.

Kings forward Jason Thompson sat out with a sprained left ankle. Donte Greene started in his place.

Notes: Curry had another evaluation on his ankle Thursday in the Los Angeles area by foot specialist Dr. Richard Ferkel. Curry, who has had repeated ankle problems, will be revaluated next week. ... Warriors season-ticket holder Omar Ortega of Hayward won $10,000 by making a half-court shot between the third and fourth quarters.

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Follow Antonio Gonzalez at: www.twitter.com/agonzalezAP

Notebook: Warriors 111, Kings 108

Posted Sunday March 25, 2012 2:16AM

By Geoff Lepper, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Klay Thompson scored a career-high 31 points, only the second 30-point game by an NBA rookie this season, and David Lee came within one assist of a triple-double as the Golden State Warriors made one fewer mistake down the stretch to outlast the Sacramento Kings 111-108 Saturday night.

Lee finished with 22 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists while Golden State's bench combined for 40 points, led by Brandon Rush's 11.

DeMarcus Cousins led Sacramento with a season-high-tying 28 points and 18 rebounds, but the Kings committed six turnovers in the final 3:20 to fumble away their chances at a fourth win in five games.

QUOTABLE: "We made some mistakes, but at least we fought through it and overcame adversity. We've got to keep doing that if we want to make a nice little run here."
-- Thompson

THE STAT: Sacramento is not a particularly accomplished 3-point shooting team, ranking 25th in the league at 32.0 percent before Saturday's game, but the Kings killed their own chances against the Warriors with a 1-for-15 performance (6.7 percent) from behind the arc.

TURNING POINT: Golden State was desperately clinging to a 109-108 lead with 14.3 seconds to go, but the Warriors were out of timeouts, and when Lee couldn't find a target for his inbounds pass, Sacramento gained possession via the five-second call.

The Kings entrusted point guard Isaiah Thomas with the ball on their final possession, and they got their desired matchup when Lee switched with Dominic McGuire on Sacramento's high pick-and-roll action. But Thomas got too eager, and when he tried to crossover to his dominant left hand, he dribbled the ball off his own leg and out of bounds at the 4.7-second mark.

Lee found Richard Jefferson with a length-of-the-court pass on the ensuing inbounds play to give Golden State a clinching dunk. Tyreke Evans' desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer was offline.

QUOTABLE II: "Even after David Lee got the five-second call, we were in the huddle saying, 'It's OK. It's alright. Let's get this stop.' That's what winning teams do. It's easy to point the finger and to say, 'Why didn't you cut? Why didn't you come to the ball? Why didn't you toss it inbounds?' The dialogue in that huddle was, 'OK, let's get a stop.'"
-- Warriors coach Mark Jackson

HOT: Thompson shredded the Kings through the first three quarters, scoring all 31 of his points while shooting 10-for-16 to that point. He missed all four attempts in the fourth quarter and fell just one point shy of Cleveland point guard Kyrie Irving's 32-point performance against New Jersey on Jan. 27, which is the most by an NBA rookie this season.

GOOD MOVE: After Cousins ran roughshod over the Warriors' makeshift three-rookie rotation at center -- Jeremy Tyler starting, backed up by recent D-League signees Mickell Gladness and Keith Benson -- Jackson threw a zone with a soft double-team at Cousins in the fourth quarter. Cousins was held to just two points in the period as a result.

QUOTABLE III: "It's tough to deal with. We fought the whole game to stay in the game. We've just got to be smarter down the stretch."
-- Cousins

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Third-string Warriors point guard Charles Jenkins, pressed into heavy second-half duty after Nate Robinson checked out late in the second quarter because of a strained right hamstring, had eight points and three assists. The team said Robinson, who was hurt 1:02 before halftime, is considered day-to-day. Jenkins is expected to start Sunday in Portland if Robinson cannot go.

ROOKIE WATCH: Thomas wound up with 12 points, five assists, two steals and two turnovers for the Kings.

INSIDE THE ARENA: Warriors season-ticket holder Omar Ortega of Hayward swished a halfcourt heave during a promotion between the third and fourth quarters, earning himself $10,000 in the process and a roaring ovation from the Oracle Arena crowd of 19,596. Perhaps the most amazing part? Just before the half-court attempt, Ortega had badly airballed a 3-point try that was worth $2,000.

NOTABLE: Kings forward Jason Thompson, who averaged 17.6 points and 13.6 rebounds per game over his previous five games, sat out due to a sprained left ankle. ... Terrence Williams, signed by the Kings to a 10-day contract Wednesday, made his Sacramento debut with five points and two rebounds, but made a critical turnover with 15.6 seconds left, botching what should have been a fast-break layup and losing the ball out of bounds instead. ... Evans was back in Sacramento's starting lineup after two games off the bench, while he worked back into shape following a sprained left ankle. ... Most observers are assuming that Golden State point guard Stephen Curry will miss the remainder of the season to rest his oft-injured right ankle, but Warriors general manager Larry Riley is still holding out hope for a return. Riley told reporters that Curry met Thursday in Southern California with renowned ankle specialist Dr. Richard Ferkel to confirm the club's existing diagnosis and provide advice on how to proceed with Curry's rehabilitation. Riley said it would be "healthy" for Curry to come back, even if only for a few games, "to prove to himself and put his own mind at ease" that the situation has finally been taken care of. However, Riley reiterated that the club will not put Curry back on the floor until their team doctors are fully convinced he's 100 percent healthy.

UP NEXT: For the Warriors, Sunday @ Portland, Tuesday vs. Lakers, Wednesday vs. New Orleans. For the Kings, Monday @ Houston, Wednesday vs. San Antonio, Friday @ Utah.

• Kings: Thompson
• Warriors: Bogut, Wright

• Kings: --
• Warriors: --

• Lead Changes: 7
• Times Tied: 3

• Arena: ORACLE Arena, Oakland, CA
• Officials: #71 Rodney Mott, #26 Pat Fraher, #31 Scott Wall
• Attendance: 19596
• Duration: 2:22