Kings Rout Warriors at Golden State, Can Advance to Second Round With Game Seven Home Win
Malik Monk (28 points, seven rebounds, and four assists) and De'Aaron Fox (26 points, game-high 11 assists, and four rebounds) powered the Sacramento Kings to a 118-99 game six road win versus the defending champion Golden State Warriors. The Kings shot just .404 from the field, but they outscored the Warriors 44-36 in the paint while also winning the rebounding battle 53-42. Keegan Murray (team-high 12 rebounds) and Domantas Sabonis (11 rebounds) combined to shoot just 8-29 from the field but their work on the boards played a major role in the win. The Warriors shot even worse than the Kings (.372), with both Splash Brothers way off of the mark: Stephen Curry scored a game-high 29 points but shot just 9-21 from the field, and Klay Thompson added 22 points on 8-20 field goal shooting. The only other Warrior to score in double figures, Andrew Wiggins, managed just 13 points on 5-13 field goal shooting.
We have been told that the Warriors' championship experience will be the decisive factor in this series, but this is not 2015 or 2018 or even 2022. This is 2023, and these Warriors went 44-38 during the regular season, including 11-30 on the road, a mark usually posted by Draft Lottery teams. Unless/until they prove otherwise, this version of the Warriors is not a great team, and if they had not barely survived a series of crunch time blunders in game four their season would be over now. The Warriors scored less than 100 points just three times in 82 regular season games, but their offense fell apart in game six when they had an opportunity to eliminate the Kings.
A victory by the home team in game seven may be a step toward curbing load management and the general decline in regular season intensity: by taking the regular season seriously, the Kings earned the right to have game seven at home.
Labels: De'Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, Golden State Warriors, Malik Monk, Sacramento Kings, Stephen Curry
posted by David Friedman @ 12:37 AM
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