Warriors Spoil Mitchell’s Career-High As Kings Fall Back Into Loss Column
Feb 3, 2022, 9:27 PM | Updated: 10:12 pm
(Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
(Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
Davion Mitchell was red-hot, but Sacramento couldn’t slow down Klay Thompson during Thursday’s loss
It was almost too familiar:
Klay Thompson knocking down triple after triple after triple after… You get the idea.
While Thompson might not have scored 37 points in a quarter like he did on that fateful night back in 2015, the sharp-shooter scored 20 points during the first half of Thursday night’s game as the Golden State Warriors routed the Sacramento Kings by a final of 126-114.
In his first matchup against the Kings since February 21, 2019, Thompson led all Warriors scorers with 23 points over only 24 minutes of play.
With the loss, Sacramento (19-35) has dropped 13 of their last 16 games.
Golden State came out aggressive in the early going as they quickly took a 13-2 lead just minutes into Thursday’s contest.
Thanks to a red-hot Davion Mitchell (10 points in the first quarter), the Kings were able to momentarily erase the deficit before the Warriors ended the period on a 9-0 run to take an 11-point lead into the second quarter.
It wouldn’t be an actual return for Klay Thompson if he wasn’t absolutely torching the Sacramento Kings.
Thompson exploded in the second quarter and finished the half with 20 points (six-of-eight shooting from thee-point range) as the Kings defense had absolutely no answer for the five-time All-Star. Golden State took a 73-54 lead into the halftime break after dropping 39 points on the Sacramento defense during the second period.
While Klay Thompson caught fire for the Warriors during the first half, Davion Mitchell nearly established a new career-high during the first half.
The rookie guard scored 21 points in the half (just one point shy of tying his career-high) on nine-of-12 shooting to help keep the Kings from being completely buried before halftime buzzer sounded.
After allowing the Warriors to knock down 13 of their 27 (48%) three-point field goal attempts during the first half, the Kings defense brought Golden State back to Earth during the third quarter.
Thanks to energized defense and clean play from the offense (no turnovers in the third quarter), Sacramento outscored the Warriors 29-21 in the third to trim the deficit to 94-83 entering the fourth period.
The Kings cut Golden State’s lead to just seven points in the early moments of the fourth, but the Warriors took control for good after piecing together a 14-3 run to increase their lead to 110-92 with eight minutes remaining.
Sacramento looked much better during the second half on Thursday, but allowing the Warriors to hammer the perimeter cost them big time. If you allow a team to shoot 20-of-42 (47%) from beyond the arc, you probably aren’t going to win that game.
It was a tale of two halves for the Kings as they were outscored 73-54 in the first half, but went on to finish the game by outscoring the Warriors 60-53 in the second half.
The effort has been better, no doubt. But as we all know, effort is nice–wins are needed.
Quick Stats
With De’Aaron Fox sidelined due to ankle soreness, Davion Mitchell has done everything that he can to bring a scoring punch to this lineup.
Not only did Mitchell top the 15-point mark for the fifth-straight game, he tallied a new career-high on Thursday as the rookie scored 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting from the field to go along with eight assists.
“It doesn’t surprise any of us that he’s gotten better as a shooter, because all you gotta do is tell him what to do and he’s gonna do it,” Kings head coach Alvin Gentry said postgame of Mitchell’s performance.
Since entering the starting lineup, Mitchell is averaging
When the second half started on Thursday, Moe Harkless had not scored a single point.
By the end of the game, Harkless had 16 points. The veteran wing finished with 18 points and tied his career-high by swiping six steals over 31 minutes.
Harrison Barnes once again proved that he can rack up points without taking too many shots as the 29-year-old scored 25 points on eight-of-11 shooting.
Damian Jones added 17 points off of the bench in another strong showing from the veteran big man.
Injury Updates
- After being listed as questionable prior to Thursday night’s game, De’Aaron Fox was labeled as a game-time decision by head coach Alvin Gentry. Shortly before tip-off, Fox was ruled out for the seventh-consecutive game. Fox told the media on Wednesday that he was feeling better, but wouldn’t play until he felt more comfortable making lateral movements. All tests (MRI,X-Ray) came back clean on Fox’s ankle.
- Marvin Bagley III missed his third-straight game due to a sprained left ankle. Bagley is considered day-to-day.
- Terence Davis underwent successful surgery to repair a right wrist ECU tendon injury on Tuesday and will be re-evaluated in approximately three months.
Coming Up
The Kings will return home for a matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night.
Sacramento and Oklahoma City have split a two-game set thus far this season, with the Kings claiming a 117-111 win at Golden 1 Center in the most recent matchup back on December 28th.
Be sure to get all of your Kings vs Thunder coverage right here on Sports 1140 KHTK beginning at 5:30pm PST on Game Night with Scott Marsh and Henry ‘The High Flyer’ Turner prior to a 7:00pm PST tip-off from downtown Sacramento.
Upcoming Sacramento Kings Schedule
- February 3rd @ Golden State Warriors
- February 5th vs Oklahoma City
- February 8th vs Minnesota Timberwolves
- February 9th vs Minnesota Timberwolves
- February 10th: NBA Trade Deadline – 12:00pm PST
- February 12 @ Washington Wizards
