Thanks to some dreadful play on the road this season and a head-scratching loss at home to the Minnesota Timberwolves a couple weeks ago, the Warriors came into Friday night needing to win in order to maintain (some) control of their own destiny.
The third-place Sacramento Kings rested most of their key players ahead of a possible first-round playoff matchup with Golden State, making things far easier for the visitors than it has been most of this season.
With a 119-97 wire-to-wire win and a favorable trip to Portland on Sunday, the Warriors are in a prime position to avoid the play-in tournament.
Kevon Looney kick-starts Warriors, closes in on season lead in offensive rebounds
The Warriors’ ironman entered Friday night’s proceedings with a league-leading 266 offensive rebounds on the season. Clint Capela entered the day second with 258 but had zero on Friday. Mitchell Robinson, who was third, with 253 on the year, didn’t play.
The Hawks have two more games to the Warriors’ one, but it’s currently a 13-rebound advantage (271 offensive rebounds) for Looney. He’d deserve to secure the season-high mark.
He was the man to keep things alive and positive for the Warriors in the early minutes, beginning with 6 points, 7 rebounds (5 on the offensive glass) and 5 assists in the first quarter. He had four of those offensive rebounds in the opening minutes, prompting eight of the Warriors’ first 13 points as second chance opportunities.
He finished with 6 points, 16 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and just one turnover, on a night the team turned it over 20 times. That 20-turnover mark will not be sustainable in the playoffs.
Looney remains this team’s anchor. He is steady, having not missed a game since… March 2, 2021.
That just doesn’t happen in this era. And as he showed in the playoffs last year — when he had his only career 20-point game — he tends to save his best for when it matters the most.
How they won on the road
After that hot first quarter start from Looney, the Warriors went cold in the second, allowing the Kings to close the gap to a 53-48 halftime margin.
The Warriors, who turned the ball over 12 times to the Kings’ three, were lucky the score wasn’t flipped. Sacramento somehow scored just two points, same as Golden State, off those turnovers.
It was a game of ebbs and flows, though even through those moments, the Warriors maintained a rare, consistent lead throughout.
They went on a 22-5 run to open the third quarter, sparked by Donte DiVincenzo, who had one of those pure sparkplug games he’s had a ton of this season. He was everywhere, adding 18 points (7-of-10, 4-of-6 from 3-pt), 6 rebounds, 8 assists, a steal and a couple turnovers.
The other sparkplug for Golden State, Gary Payton II, had his moments, too. He was a menace crashing the glass and contesting shooters, offering 10 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 turnovers.
He opened the second half with a pair of 3-pointers, then set up another with a drive and a kick out to Klay Thompson in the corner.
At that point, their ball movement started to get into a dynamic rhythm. Draymond Green, after crashing into a chair, started making a major impact. He and Looney combined for a couple steals and offered some brilliant high post passing.
Green took an absolute beating in this one, and has for most of this season. He came into the game with a wrap on his left wrist and was late for warmups, according to the broadcast, because he was getting electro therapy on his right shoulder. In addition to the chair fiasco, he got whacked on the head by Alex Len on a play that wasn’t called.
Jonathan Kuminga also had a scary moment in the third quarter, when he went up for a dunk and was fouled mid air. He played well, offering 15 points on 4-of-5 shooting (hit both of his 3-pointers) and had one brilliant assist. That he remained in the game after his fall was extremely encouraging.
The score got to that point in the clip above because of a sketchy few minutes in the second part of the third quarter.
Golden State, with Jordan Poole in the game, started to turn the ball over incessantly on a few moving screen violations. They did the inverse of that on the other end, running through screens or fouling on box outs, to give away some free points.
Sacramento went on an 11-0 run and cut it back to single digits.
But after that Kuminga foul and an ensuing free through, a couple of drives from Poole — who score 8 points all at the line, along with 5 assists, but was a confounding 0-of-10 from the field — netted five-straight at the line.
That, and a pair of 3-pointers from Thompson and DiVincenzo — both assisted by Poole — settled things and gave the Warriors a 13-point buffer to close the third.
At that point, it was pretty easy. Everyone got their piece.
Stephen Curry was aggressive from the outset and is as good as he’s ever been, finishing with a cool 25 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, a block and 5 turnovers, of which quite a few were maddening.
His splash brother was steady as ever. Klay Thompson dropped 29 points (11-of-19, 5-of-8 from 3-pt), with 2 rebounds, assists, blocks and turnovers.
All of that, against a Kings team resting the likes of D’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis and Kevin Huerter, coalesced in the Warriors’ 10th road win of the season. They are now 10-30 on the road and will need to win one more, against a Trail Blazers team resting its core, to punch their playoff ticket.
The playoff situation
If the Warriors win out, nothing else is consequential, other than the result of the Los Angeles Clippers’ final two games. If the Warriors beat the Trail Blazers on Sunday and the Clippers lose one of their final two, Golden State will be the fifth seed.
With this win, Golden State guaranteed that the lowest it could fall is the eighth seed and that they’re mostly in control of their own destiny.
But with the New Orleans Pelicans and Los Angeles Lakers both winning on Friday night, they have not yet clinched a playoff spot.
If the Clippers — hosting the Trail Blazers on Saturday and facing the Suns, who could be resting on the road on Sunday — win out and the Warriors win on Sunday, it will be the sixth seed for the Warriors.
They’d face the Kings again, but this time at full strength.
