Kings Shock Warriors in Overtime, 109-106

What. A. Game.

Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green vs DeMarcus Cousins, Darren Collison, Matt Barnes, and Anthony Tolliver. Four All-Stars vs one All-Star and three role players. The best regular season team ever assembled vs a 12 year playoff drought. This wasn’t supposed to be a match-up as much as it was supposed to be a massacre, and yet your Sacramento Kings slayed the giant tonight. #SacramentoProud

While things certainly weren’t perfect, the Kings beat the Warriors by attacking one of Golden State’s only weaknesses, interior defense. Sacramento pounded the ball inside and won the points in the paint battle 56-34. The effort was led by DeMarcus Cousins’ monster stat line of 32 points, 12 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block as well as Willie Cauley-Stein’s 14 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, and 1 block in just 18 minutes of play.

The Kings bench was also a huge factor as they outscored the Warriors subs 45-16. Matt Barnes had possibly his best game in King uniform with 11 points and 14 rebounds while Anthony Tolliver hit all three of his long-balls on his way to 11 points and 5 rebounds.

Golden State was led by Steph Curry (35 points and 9 assists) and Klay Thompson (26 points and 5 rebounds) but neither player was able to score when it mattered the most. Klay missed a game winning shot at the end of regulation and Seth’s older brother couldn’t convert an open layup in overtime with only a few second left on the clock. Kevin Durant was about as effective as he is loyal, putting up a measly 10 points on 10 attempts in 42 minutes.

This was not a perfect win, but it was a complete win. There are plenty of things that we could pick apart, but for tonight, I’m simply choosing to celebrate the rare gift of a positive night for Kings fans.

Game Notes:

• Steve Kerr was ejected after a profanity-laced tirade against the officials. Although Draymond Green also was assessed a technical foul in the same time frame, the Kings only shot two free throws. The referees explained that Kerr was a “one technical ejection” even though he was first assessed a tech and then thrown out of the game very shortly thereafter. This is definitely something the league should look into for the future.
• Speaking of technical fouls, Dave Joerger received one of his own and DeMarcus Cousins picked up his 14th of the year.
• Kosta Koufos started once again, but played only 13 minutes as he just can’t stay on the court against smaller teams when he’s paired with Boogie.
• Ben McLemore got his second start in a row and looked like a semi-competent NBA player. He scored 10 points on 6 shots and had 1 rebound, 1 assist and 3 steals. Keep pumping up that trade value, Pizza Guy.