Haliburton’s Big Night Not Enough As Curry, Warriors Defeat Sacramento
Dec 20, 2021, 9:34 PM | Updated: 9:46 pm
(Photo by Daniel Shirey/Getty Images)
(Photo by Daniel Shirey/Getty Images)
The Kings had their chances late, but Golden State was able to close things out down the stretch on Monday night
While the Sacramento Kings got yet another 20-point, 10-assist double-double from Tyrese Haliburton and another 15-point quarter from Buddy Hield for the second-straight night, the end result of Monday night’s game would not be a favorable one.
Future Hall of Fame guard Steph Curry scored 30 points, Draymond Green notched a triple-double and the Golden State Warriors were able to pull away late in the fourth quarter to claim a 113-98 win over the Kings at Chase Center.
Sacramento (13-19) has lost four-straight games on the road after starting the season with a 6-6 record away from Golden 1 Center.
Golden State quickly jumped out to a 16-6 lead in the first quarter, causing Kings head coach Doug Christie to call an early timeout. Sacramento cut the deficit to just four points before the Warriors regained control to take a 26-16 lead into the second quarter.
After turning the ball over just 11 times during Sunday’s win over San Antonio, that discipline was gone in the first quarter on Monday as the Kings turned the ball over seven times during the opening 12 minutes of play.
Sacramento’s 7-0 run in the opening moments of the second period cut the Warriors lead to 26-23, but the Golden State bench put together a solid run to lead by as many as 15 points en route to taking a 58-46 lead over the Kings at the break.
For the second game in-a-row, Tyrese Haliburton put on a show in the first half, scoring 14 points and dishing out five assists to keep the Kings within striking distance.
In his first action since scoring 19 points in the fourth quarter on Sunday afternoon, Buddy Hield didn’t score a point in the first half on Monday night. The 29-year-old appeared to be forcing a lot of his shot attempts, something that had to change in order for the Kings to keep themselves in Monday’s game.
Following the half-time break, Hield finally found his stroke in a big way as the sharpshooter knocked down five three-pointers (15 points) in the period to bring Sacramento to within 84-79 entering the fourth quarter.
Unfortunately for the Kings, Golden State would flex its muscle down the closing stretch as Steph Curry and the rest of the Warriors would withstand Hield and Haliburton’s heroics to put a pesky Sacramento team away.
Little-to-no production from the bench (11 points) and sloppy play (19 turnovers) would doom the Kings on a night where the starting five did all that they could to take a win back to Sacramento.
Although the Kings were without seven players, the heart and effort from this team was evident from the tip. This team has played a handful of games without their star guard in De’Aaron Fox and key rotation pieces in Richaun Holmes, Davion Mitchell, Marvin Bagley III and Terence Davis.
This fanbase will not accept silver linings, but defeating a San Antonio Spurs team that embarrassed a fully-healthy Kings team earlier this season AND hanging with the 25-6 Golden State Warriors for 43 minutes on back-to-back nights isn’t all that bad considering the circumstances.
“We’re not looking for moral victories. That’s not what we are doing,” head coach Dough Christie said following the game. “But what we are looking for is growth on a nightly basis.”
Sacramento will hope to have some of their key pieces back in the near future as they move deeper into the regular season and open up a crucial six-game home-stand.
Kings Of The Night
The legend of Tyrese Haliburton continues to grow.
Haliburton has become the first King to post three-straight games with 20+ points, 4+ rebounds and 10+ assists since Hall of Fame guard Nate ‘Tiny’ Archibald did so in January of 1973. It’s been a historic run for the second-year guard.
Over 41 minutes of play on Monday, Haliburton scored 24 points, pulled down four rebounds, dished 11 assists (tied a career-high) and swiped three steals.
While Haliburton has been doing a masterful job of running the offense, Buddy Hield has knocked down 13 three-point field goals over the past two games, including two-straight games scoring 15 points in a single period (fourth quarter on Sunday, third quarter on Monday).
Hield finished with 18 points in the loss, while Harrison Barnes added 19 points and Chimezie Metu scored 16 points to round out the scoring.
Injury Report
De’Aaron Fox, Davion Mitchell, Alex Len, Marvin Bagley III, Terence Davis and head coach Alvin Gentry are all currently in the NBA’s COVID-19 Health & Safety protocols.
According to the league’s guidelines, those that are in protocols will need register successive negative tests 24 hours apart in order to return to basketball activities.
Richaun Holmes (eye) missed his seventh-straight game due to recovery from a right eye laceration. Holmes is considered day-to-day moving forward.
Coming Up
The Kings will return to Golden 1 Center on Wednesday night to tip-off their longest home-stand of the season when the play the first of six-straight home games against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Sacramento has won the first two meetings with the Clippers this season, picking up a 124-115 win at STAPLES Center on December 1st and then defeating Los Angeles at Golden 1 Center by a final of 104-99 at Golden 1 Center back on December 4th.
Be sure to get all of your Kings vs Clippers coverage right here on Sports 1140 KHTK beginning at 3:00pm PST on The Jason Ross Show prior to a 7:00pm PST tip-off from downtown Sacramento.
Upcoming Sacramento Kings Schedule
- December 22nd vs Los Angeles Clippers
- December 26th vs Memphis Grizzlies
- December 28th vs Oklahoma City
- December 29th vs Dallas Mavericks
- December 31st vs Dallas Mavericks
