SAN FRANCISCO — It came down to the final possession with 13 seconds left on the clock and Steph Curry with the ball and a chance to win it. It ended with a Curry turnover, trapped near half-court, and a Warriors’ 134-133 loss to the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night.
After Kevin Huerter missed both of his free throws and the Warriors took the ball down court with a timeout to burn, the frantic scramble for a game-winner-turned-turnover stings harsher in retrospect. But both Curry and coach Steve Kerr liked their odds to score against an un-set defense compared to the alternative.
“We talked about it before the free throws,” Curry said. “We’d already committed to going, and at that point its chaos, trying to get over the half point, see where the defense was. Once (Jonathan Kuminga) gave it to me, at that point I should have seen it or coach, that there’s eight people on one side of the court. We had a screen, they trapped, and I was trying to get the ball back to draymond to see what happened. I should have been a timeout right when I got the ball and saw the court wasn’t balanced right. But the chaos of the moment, you try to make a play. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t.”
Said Kerr: “These guys have been together for so long, I prefer the scramble situations at the end of games where defenses can’t get set up and make subs. This is one that keeps you up at night, but we got to the picture we wanted, got the Steph, Draymond pick and roll at the top, got good spacing. I thought we would get Draymond on a roll with spacing on either side because they doubled Steph, but he just couldn’t get it to Draymond in that situation. They did a good job doubling him. When the play is over it’s like, yeah, could have taken a timeout. It’s always a difficult decision down the stretch.”
Warriors are 1-3 this season in games decided by one point, three of those games have been against the Kings.
The Warriors and Kings battled with offensive fire throughout, dropping 3-pointers on top of 3-pointers on either end. Golden State shot 19-for-37 for 3 (51.4%) and the Kings 22-for-48 (45.8%). It was Kings forward and former Warrior Harrison Barnes with the redemption game, putting up a career-high 39 points.
Curry started off with an 18-point first quarter, hitting five of his first eight 3s. He finished with 33 points, hitting one 3 after the first frame but shooting 13-for-26 from the field. Jonathan Kuminga scored a career-high 31 points and was a team-high plus-16. Draymond Green had 11 assists and was plus-14.
The Warriors continue this homestand on Saturday where they’ll take on the Los Angeles Lakers for the first time this regular season. Then the surging Philadelphia 76ers visit on Tuesday to close out the home stand.