Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, left, drives against Sacramento Kings guard Darren Collison during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
After trailing the entire 1st half Golden State manufactured a 39 point 3rd quarter to best the Kings.
By Cole Reece| January 8th
Steve Kerr took a timeout just 18 seconds into the contest after a Demarcus Cousins’ dunk. Kerr wanted the team to come out sharp and be engaged in the game. Golden State focused heavily on defending Cousins in the opening minutes. All that attention led to open looks for the rest of the Kings lineup. Sacramento had an unbelievable start shooting 9/15 from the floor. Turnovers were front and center for the Warriors yet again. Sacramento used the Dubs mistakes to fuel their potent offensive start. Rudy Gay took flight after Demarcus sat with his 2nd foul of the 1st quarter. Gay punished Golden State going off for 15 points after 1 quarter of play. The Kings held the Dubs to just 39% from the field. The Warriors were flat out atrocious from beyond the arc. As a team, they made just 3/14 with 2 of those belonging to Steph. The Kings pushed their lead all the way up to 16 points midway through the 2nd. It was the antics of Demarcus Cousins that kicked the Warriors into gear to end the half. Cousins received his 3rd foul and took his anger out on a chair resulting in a technical foul.
Golden State went on a 13-4 run to close out the 2nd and trim the Kings lead to 7 points (58-51). Curry led the Warriors with 13 points while Durant and Klay contributed 12 points each. In the 3rd quarter, the Dubs stormed back to take command of the game. Zaza Pachulia was the energy man, he won 50/50 battles and kickstarted Golden State offensively. He got to double-digit scoring for the 4th straight game. The big man got the best of Kings Center Demarcus Cousins. Zaza stole the ball from Cousins 3 times and matched him in the offensive end. The Splash Triplets took care of the rest. Curry, in particular, had 12 points in the 3rd. Steph was phenomenal and along with Durant Klay and Pachulia led the Warriors to a 39 point quarter(GS led 90-80). It was the defining moment in the game as the Kings were never able to match Golden State’s explosion. The Warriors defeat the Kings 117-106, Golden State now has 13 straight wins against Sacramento. Curry led the way with 30 points followed closely by Durant with 28 points. The gold star goes to ZaZa for his fantastic effort guarding Cousins. Demarcus finished the night with 17 points, and Rudy Gay wound up with 23 points. The Warriors head back home to take on the struggling Miami Heat Tuesday at 7:30 pm.