The Golden State Warriors outlasted a late push from the Sacramento Kings to pull off their first win since Steph Curry’s long anticipated return, 110-105, April 7 at Chase Center.
The Warriors (37-42) are locked into the last play-in spot at tenth in the Western Conference, while the Kings (21-59) have long been eliminated from playoff contention.
Against a severely depleted Kings team with nothing to lose, the game came down to the wire.
The Warriors were sluggish out of the gate as both teams looked to seize early momentum to no avail.
“I’d like to see a full 48 minutes of sharper execution,” said head coach Steve Kerr. “I liked our game against Houston a lot better than the one tonight.”
With the Warriors short handed playing only nine in the game, they turned not to Steph Curry, but the unlikely hero in forward Pat Spencer to keep them afloat early.
“Pat’s a gamer, we know we can play him for 40 minutes and he loves it, so he just ate up those minutes Will would have played,” Kerr said.
Spencer led the Warriors in minutes, shots and points with 7 headed into the second quarter down 26-25.
In the second, the Warriors played their best basketball as they put up a crooked number against the Kings on the back of guard De’Anthony Melton, still laboring from a left thumb strain.
“It’s starting to get better,” Melton said when asked about his injury. “I think that’s kind of how the game went today.”
Melton put up 12 points and three assists, all in the second quarter, with a lending hand from Steph Curry scoring 11.
The Warriors headed into the locker room at halftime with a commanding 66-53 lead.
In the third quarter, the Warriors beat themselves. They were outscored 28-19 as they looked flat, shooting 1-8 on the three ball, leading to sloppy offensive play and turnovers.
“It just goes back to focus level,” forward Draymond Green said, referencing the turnovers. “I think nine of them came in the third quarter; we’ve kind of had this thing of being terrible in the third quarter.”
By the start of the fourth quarter, the Kings had made it a game again, trailing the Warriors 85-81.
The final frame began much the same as the third ended, until at 8:21 left in the game the Kings retook the lead 91-89.
At this point, the game became a back-and-forth battle with 9 different lead changes down the final stretch.
With 1:52 left, guard Brandin Podziemski nailed a wide open three for the dagger to the Kings as Curry drew the attention of the defense
In the end, the Warriors had six players score in double figures.
The player of the game went to De’Anthony Melton, bringing the necessary spark each time the Warriors fizzled. He finished with 21 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists on an efficient shooting night.
Steph Curry didn’t show out as he did in his first game back, going 4-11 on three pointers, scoring 17 in his limited 25 minutes, but he was significant in spacing the floor, allowing teammates to get better looks with the rest of the team shooting 13-27 from beyond the perimeter.
The Warriors fought off a tanking team down to the final minute, but that desperate effort won’t save them in their final games of the season as they head into the play-in.
“It definitely helps, but at the same time you know it’s another day,” Melton said. “We have a long journey ahead and we have two important games to come up. So I think the biggest thing is just to find rhythm and keep that flowing and moving,” Melton said.
