Warriors Defeat Kings In Return From All-Star Break
SACRAMENTO (CBS / AP) -- David Lee had 23 points and 11 rebounds, Klay Thompson scored 18 points and the Golden State Warriors held off the Sacramento Kings 101-92 on Wednesday night in a game both teams played short-handed.
Stephen Curry added 13 points and eight assists for the Warriors (32-22) in the first game following the All-Star break for each team. Golden State is 3-0 against Sacramento this season.
With both centers out with injuries and a shorter roster from trades each team made earlier in the day, the depth of the Warriors was just too much for the Kings to overcome.
Isaiah Thomas had 26 points and seven assists, and Travis Outlaw scored 18 points for a Sacramento (18-36) team that's headed for an eighth straight losing season.
Quincy Acy grabbed a career-high 12 boards to help the Kings outrebound the Warriors 49-35, but Sacramento committed 21 turnovers, fading in the closing minutes.
The game was played in the aftermath of a busy day for both Northern California teams.
The Kings traded guard Marcus Thornton to Brooklyn for veterans Jason Terry and Reggie Evans in the afternoon. Just before tipoff, the Warriors acquired point guard Steve Blake from the Los Angeles Lakers for reserves Kent Bazemore and MarShon Brooks.
Andrew Bogut also missed his fifth straight game for the Warriors with a left shoulder injury. DeMarcus Cousins, who strained his left hip flexor in Sacramento's final game before the break in New York, also sat out. Both centers are day to day.
The Kings dropped to 0-8 without Cousins this season but still led 76-75 entering the fourth quarter. The Warriors quickly put together a pair of scoring spurts to pull away.
Lee converted a layup through traffic, Thompson made a 3-pointer and Andre Iguodala hit a fadeway jumper in an 8-0 run that gave Golden State an 86-79 lead early in the fourth. After the Kings started to rally, Iguodala found Draymond Green for a dunk, and Lee followed with a layup that put the Warriors up 94-84 with 3:28 remaining that all but sealed it.
Most of the game played out in similar fashion.
The Warriors went ahead by 10 points in the first quarter and 15 in the second, spreading the floor and moving the ball fast without any true centers on the court.
The Kings had come back each time, though, playing just like the two-faced team they'd been before the All-Streak break -- prone to scintillating scoring spurts but, at times, lacking defense and discipline -- that buried them at the bottom of the Western Conference standings.
Sacramento scored the final nine points of the third quarter, including the last six by Thomas, to take a 76-75 lead before the Warriors pulled away for good.
NOTES: The teams meet for the final time this season April 4 in Oakland. ... Recently retired NFL tight end Tony Gonzalez, a former star at California, sat in a courtside seat between Kings owner Vivek Ranadive and team executive Chris Mullin. ... The Warriors are hoping Blake will be in uniform when they host Houston on Thursday night in Oakland. ... Terry and Evans should have plenty of time to make it to Sacramento before the Kings host Boston on Saturday night.
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