The Warriors said they are all about the chess match. After a three-point loss in the series opener, Stephen Curry said that tactical matchup is what he and his teammates “live for.”
A perfect chance at a potential winner went unanswered by Andrew Wiggins. Could the Warriors respond to a fearless, young Kings team?
On Monday, the answer was decidedly: no. They got out-played by the Kings again, losing 114-106. They now trail 2-0 in a playoff series for the first time since 2007.
Draymond melts down
It was one of those games where Draymond Green was playing on a tightrope.
He picked up two immediate fouls at the start of the third quarter, then had to return with plenty of time left in the quarter because Kevon Looney was also in foul trouble.
Green nearly had a fourth foul after an out of bounds play with Domantas Sabonis. He was doing that thing where he was wreaking havoc all over the court, to the point that it was stunning he hadn’t fouled out or been ejected yet.
But that was to come.
In the end, he got out-shenaniganed by Sabonis. Sabonis grabbed Green’s ankle, and instead of Green trying to get around him, or landing his foot on him incidentally, Green stomped on him.
It was initially deemed a technical foul on Green, then amended to a flagrant 2 on him and a flagrant 1 on Sabonis.
He seemed to know he was ejected, too, yelling at the Sacramento crowd like a man unhinged.
He was talking trash to the camera, not involving himself much in the extended huddle at a crucial point in the game. It was not a superb look.
That left the Warriors without him for the final five-plus minutes of the fourth quarter. Curry, who was getting smothered, did not have the man who always manages to give him some breathing room.
Kings’ defense on Curry, and nothing from Jordan Poole
The Kings’ recipe, first and foremost, is relentlessness. They’re younger and more desperate than the Warriors. The box-and-one and way they hound Curry unceasingly has affected him. He has to work outrageously hard to get his own shot.
He’s forcing passes into lanes that don’t exist and the rest of Golden State hasn’t proven they’re going to make the Kings pay — despite a post-game one proclamation from Klay Thompson that they would.
When he checked out of the game at the end of the first quarter, the Kings went on an immediate 13-4 run and took the lead.
The non-Curry minutes were damning in the first game.
He checked out of the game with 2:26 remaining in the third quarter — one in which the Warriors had six turnovers to the Kings’ zero — with his team trailing by 10. That deficit decreased to eight at the end of the quarter to give the Warriors a chance.
Curry had played 29 minutes at that point. He would not get another rest, in large part because Jordan Poole was atrocious.
When the Warriors were on a run and driving down the court after closing a 10-point deficit to six, Poole dribbled chaotically — as he does — then threw a pass into the first few rows of the crowd. He had 4 points (1-of-7, 0-of-3 from 3-pt), 3 rebounds, an assist, a steal and a turnover.
The tone for Curry was set early in the fourth.
His first 3-point attempt of the fourth was a stunning airball. Davion Mitchell was all over him, giving him no room whatsoever.
Golden State needed a jolt from someone else. While Klay Thompson got going in the fourth, the lack of anything productive from Poole, and poor nights from Donte DiVincenzo and Jonathan Kuminga — both of whom had goose eggs — it was not enough to take the burden off Curry’s shoulders.
The Kings let the Warriors get close at times. But they were by far the better team, and it showed in Curry’s performance.
He had 28 points but was 9-of-21 from the floor and just 3-of-13 from deep. He had 3 rebounds and 6 assists, but turned it over 5 times, many of which were forced into nonexistent windows.
The Warriors will need more production out of at least one of Poole, Kuminga and DiVincenzo if they’re going to respond to the seemingly limitless energy Sacramento has.
Foul trouble, turnovers, and rebound
One of the clear areas the Warriors had success in game one was in defending Domantas Sabonis. He had 12 points on 5-of-17 shooting, his worst mark of the season.
They still had success defending him, but not nearly to the same extent as on Saturday night.
His impact, especially crashing the boards, was deeply problematic for the Warriors. His battling on the interior led to Kevon Looney picking up five fouls midway through the third quarter. That was after Draymond Green had picked up four fouls in the first minute of the quarter.
With Steve Kerr not liking what he saw from Kuminga in the first half, he tapped Moses Moody… who fouled twice, immediately. The Kings were in the penalty with in the first 10 minutes of the quarter.
Golden State finished the third quarter with a whopping 22 fouls.
They were on the back foot for most of this game thanks to those fouls and a glaring turnover issue. While both teams turned it over a lot, early, the Warriors failed to put a halt to their issues.
With roughly 30 seconds left in the first quarter, there had been 17 combined turnovers and 17 combined field goals. Golden State, of course, was turning it over more — nine times to seven from Sacramento.
In an interview at the end of the quarter, Steve Kerr said he wasn’t concerned about the Warriors’ turnovers because they were defending well.
He should probably have been a bit more concerned. The Warriors turned it over 20 times.
They often make up for their league-worst marks in turnovers with great 3-point shooting, or some well-timed Kevon Looney rebounds.
But they were just 13-of-40 from deep, and the Kings out-rebounded them on the offensive glass by a 12-to-9 margin. Sabonis had four of his nine boards on the offensive end.
Golden State struggled to get around his screens, and would often end up closing out to shooters with two defenders, leaving the paint unsealed, and plenty of second chance opportunities.
They were getting far too many contributions to get extra opportunities. Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox both had 24. Malik Monk had 18. Kevin Huerter had 15. Davion Mitchell had 14. Harrison Barnes (who dunked on Thompson twice) had 13.
That’s six players with 13 or more points. The Warriors had four, in Curry (28 points), Thompson (21 points), Andrew Wiggins (22 points) and Gary Payton II (13 points).
Sacramento’s just getting help from everyone right now. Golden State is not.
Andscape’s Marc J. Spears joined Murph & Mac on Tuesday morning and suggested that Mike Brown’s knowledge of Warriors could propel the Kings to win the series.