In a preseason game between the Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night, the Warriors staged a miraculous comeback to win by a score of 116-115. Without the stakes of a regular season game, Steph Curry still shown his famed ability to dominate.
Since Kevon Looney and Draymond Green weren’t able to play, the Warriors had to rely more heavily on their first-string players than they had in the previous preseason contests. To foreshadow future moves, head coach Steve Kerr has moved offseason addition Chris Paul to the bench. About 30 minutes of action was logged by Paul, Curry, Klay Thompson, and Andrew Wiggins.
In prior preseason games, Golden State’s defense had been the focus, but offensive woes brought on by reckless turnovers were the story on Wednesday. While Thompson shot a dismal 2 for 11, the rest of Golden State’s bench unit was incredibly effective from beyond the arc. But they gave it right back with 22 turnovers.
As Looney was benched, Kings All-Star center Domantas Sabonis was slowed by rookie and second-round selection Trayce Jackson-Davis, who did a good job by limiting Sabonis to 12 points and 10 rebounds on 4-for-10 shooting. Despite picking up five fouls, Jackson-Davis finished with 13 points and 10 boards.
The Warriors trailed the Kings throughout of the game and only took the lead once, in the first quarter. For the Kings, De’Aaron Fox and Keegan Murray were the driving forces, as they scored 49 points between them and added 15 boards, 5 assists, and 4 steals. With less than a minute remaining in the third quarter, the Kings’ lead ballooned to 18 points.
But Paul and Curry did not give up so quickly and the Warriors had to fight to stay in the game. The Kings were up by 11 points with 3.5 minutes left in the game. After being down by double digits, Paul launched a 7-2 run that brought the Dubs within striking distance, and in the game’s last two minutes, Curry was unstoppable. The Warriors’ comeback was fueled entirely by Steph’s scoring in the final two minutes.
Curry made it a one-point game with a wild bank three as time expired, bringing Sacramento within 115-112. After the Warriors’ defense held the Kings scoreless, Dario Saric was fouled and sent to the charity stripe with a chance to equalize or take the lead. The two times he tried, he failed.
The Warriors took Kings guard Kevin Huerter to the line after he was fouled with no time remaining on the shot clock. After making the first and missing the second, Sacramento took the lead for good at 115-113 with 11 seconds left. With the ball back in play, Curry paused play. Out of the timeout, the Warriors sent the ball to Curry, who promptly buried a 30-foot step-back three in Fox’s ear to give the Warriors a 116-115 lead with five seconds left. Fox blinked as time ran out and missed his chance to respond. Ultimately, Curry scored 30 points on 10-of-18 shooting from the field and 8-of-12 from beyond the arc.