Warriors Defeat Sluggish Kings To Close Out Preaseaon
Dec 17, 2020, 8:30 PM | Updated: 8:30 pm
(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
De’Aaron Fox struggled, Stephen Curry was locked in and Golden State picked up the victory over Sacramento
The preseason is in the books for the Sacramento Kings.
Stephen Curry lit up the Kings defense on Thursday night, scoring 29 points en route to a 113-109 win for the Golden State Warriors at Golden 1 Center in downtown Sacramento.
The three-headed Warriors monster of Curry, Andrew Wiggins and Kelly Oubre Jr. combined for 70 points, giving Sacramento more than they could handle during the final tune-up game for each franchise.
De’Aaron Fox struggled on Thursday night, only knocking down three of his 17 field goal attempts–including none of his seven attempts from three-point range.
Fox was able to contribute with his ball-movement, racking up 13 assists to go along with his eight points over 30 minutes of playing time.
Harrison Barnes had his strongest showing of the preseason, leading Sacramento with 19 points on six-of-12 from the field to go along with five rebounds and two steals.
In his second appearance with the Kings, center Hassan Whiteside put forward another strong effort in the paint. The seven-footer scored 12 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked four shots over just 19 minutes.
Walton mentioned before the game that he wants to tinker with the lineup featuring Fox, Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy Hield–with Whiteside acting as the anchor of the defense.
After his breakout game on Tuesday, Kyle Guy came back to Earth in the preseason finale, scoring eight points over 18 minutes. It is expected that Guy will be out of the rotation for the season opener on Wednesday if Cory Joseph is ready to go, per Walton.
Joseph has missed the last three contests due to a sore back.
Head coach Luke Walton told the media pregame that Tyrese Haliburton and Marvin Bagley III would both play more minutes on Thursday than they did on Tuesday.
Both players were on a 15-minute restriction during Tuesday’s win.
Haliburton saw 20 minutes of action, scoring seven points to go along with three rebounds. Bagley logged 18 minutes in the loss, finishing with six points on three-of-four from the field, three rebounds, a steal and a block.
The rookie out of Iowa State is incredibly active on defense, something that the team could use after years of struggle on the opposite end of the floor.
With the preseason in the books, Walton will need to lock in his rotation prior to Wednesday night’s season opener. The starting lineup of Fox, Hield, Barnes, Bagley and Holmes will likely be the five that take the floor first against Denver.
The rest remains to be seen.
Cory Joseph should slide back into the lineup as the backup guard alongside Haliburton, but will Guy steal a few minutes from Joseph after his impressive preseason?
Nemanja Bjelica, who started has started in almost every game for Sacramento over the past two seasons, will seemingly become a bench option this season. How will the 32-year-old floor-spacer adapt to his new role?
Answers will be coming soon, with the regular season just days away.
Coming Up
Next time, it’s for real.
The preseason is over. Sacramento will travel to Denver next Wednesday to play its 2020-21 regular season opener against a dangerous Nuggets team.
Denver advanced to the Western Conference Finals during the NBA bubble, losing the series in five games to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers.
Last season, Sacramento was 1-2 against the Nuggets–including a 100-97 thrilling win back in November of 2019.
Tune in to Sports 1140 KHTK for all of the action, starting with pregame coverage at 5:30pm PST followed by tip-off at 6:00pm PST.
