SACRAMENTO — The Warriors are a .500 team, and they played a .500 game.
As excellent as the Warriors played in the first half, when the 3s were flowing and the defense held Sacramento to 39% shooting, they stumbled just as hard in the second half.
Golden State led by as much as 18, but hellacious ball pressure and trick defensive schemes from Sacramento in the third quarter slowed them down. The Warriors allowed 75 second-half points and scored just four points in the last four minutes of the game.
The Kings trapped the ball out of Steph Curry’s hands all night, and he responded by dishing a season-high 12 assists. Andrew Wiggins poured in 25 and Gui Santos (16 points) provided a major lift off the bench. But DeMar DeRozan (32 points, 24 in the second half) was too much for the short-handed Warriors to overcome.
In the early stages of a “make-or-break” stretch of games before the Feb. 6 trade deadline, what looked like a promising night for Golden State (21-22) ended with “Light The Beam” chants and a 123-117 loss. The Warriors committed 19 turnovers, negating a hot shooting night.
Steve Kerr moved some puzzle pieces around, removing Dennis Schroder and Trayce Jackson-Davis from the starting lineup and replacing them with Buddy Hield and Kevon Looney. He tried to make lineup choices to “jumpstart” Golden State’s offense that ranks 26th since December.
Looney matches up well with Kings center Domantas Sabonis, and the Warriors are undefeated when Hield scores at least 18 points.
Not only did Kerr shake up the starting lineup, he dug deep into his bench. Rookie Quinten Post started the second quarter to add spacing and Gui Santos checked in shortly after him as the 11th Warrior to touch the court.
Any choices are impermanent given the Warriors’ injury report. Draymond Green and Jonathan Kuminga will miss at least another week or two, while Brandin Podziemski and Kyle Anderson could return from absences Thursday against the Bulls but watched in street clothes in Golden 1 Center.
Any coaching decisions look great when shots fall. Moses Moody drained his first two 3-pointers, Hield buried a pair and Andrew Wiggins sank three early triples — including a four-point play. Even Santos joined the barrage with three of his own. Golden State started 12-for-21 from behind the arc.
The 3-point onslaught opened up the lane for Golden State. Curry found Santos on a cut for his fifth assist and threw a slick dime in the pick-and-roll to Jackson-Davis for an and-1 reverse layup.
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Curry added a banked floater and a ridiculous teardrop off a euro step. Golden State closed the first half on a 35-19 extended run that included a comical Malik Monk missed breakaway dunk that appeared to hit his head and pop back up through the cylinder.
Looney (illness) didn’t come out of the locker room for the second half, so Jackson-Davis and Post soaked up the center minutes against Sabonis. They felt the absence on defense.
Sacramento swung the momentum back in their direction with a 37-20 third quarter. Warriors turnovers kickstarted the Kings’ transition offense that Golden State had bottled up earlier. The Golden 1 Center, silenced in the first half, became a factor.
The 3s stopped falling, renewed ball pressure from the Kings forced eight turnovers, Kerr got a technical when he argued for a kickball and by the end of the quarter, Sacramento tied the game.
DeRozan scored 19 points on perfect shooting in the quarter, swinging the game. Many of those same decisions Kerr made didn’t look as genius as Golden State’s jumpers clanked and Sacramento turned the game into a track meet. The talent tells the truth.
Four 3-pointers in a quick burst — from Moody, Post and Hield — put the Warriors back up seven early in the fourth quarter. But the Kings responded with an 8-0 run in 90 seconds.
Golden State’s bench erupted when Santos swished his fourth 3 of the game to put the Warriors back on top.
Santos and Post closed the game in the frontcourt as the lead swung back and forth. Curry, who rarely had an inch to breath because of Sacramento’s traps and zone defense, misfired on a deep try with 90 seconds left, leading to foul shots on the other end to give Sacramento a two-possession edge.
Then Fox, who had an otherwise dreadful night, brought the crowd to its feet with a 20-foot jumper. The Kings had closers, while the Warriors’ closer got double and triple-teamed.
