In a must-win Game 3, the Golden State Warriors cruised to a blowout 114-97 win against the Sacramento Kings to put the series at 2-1 in favor of the Kings Thursday night. Golden State never trailed in this game, and it wasn't particularly close after halftime as Stephen Curry orchestrated another offensive masterpiece where he put up 36 points, six rebounds and three assists. Andrew Wiggins added on 20 points of his own, but the underrated MVP of the night for the Warriors was Kevon Looney who racked up 20 rebounds and nine assists.
The Warriors exposed a Kings defense that ranked 24th in the regular season, and got great production from role players to put the game out of reach. What makes the win even sweeter for the defending champions is the fact that Golden State managed to get this win without their two best defenders in Draymond Green and Gary Payton II. Green was suspended for this game after stepping on Domantas Sabonis' chest in Game 2, and Payton II was sidelined due to illness. Despite those out, the Warriors managed to tame Sacramento's potent offense.
For the Kings, it was a case of an off shooting night, coupled with costly turnovers. De'Aaron Fox led Sacramento with 26 points, while Harrison Barnes added on 17 points. The Kings looked out of sorts on both ends of the floor, but they'll have a chance to bounce back on Sunday in Game 4.
Here are some takeaways from the game.
1. Kevon Looney, take a bow
Stan Van Gundy said in the first half after Looney grabbed what felt like his millionth offensive board that "every team needs a Kevon Looney." Every team needs one, but the Warriors certainly aren't offering up their Looney to any team, especially after Thursday night's performance. The big man corralled 20 rebounds to go a with a playoff career-high nine assists. But the most most important part about his performance was the fact that nine of his rebounds came on the offensive end, generating second-chance opportunities, like this one at the end of the first half that sent Chase Center into a tizzy.
Time and time again Looney outworked Domantas Sabonis and whoever else under the basket to snatch a board, or tip it to himself and dish it to someone out on the perimeter to reset and get another shot at a bucket. His presence down low ended up being a huge difference maker for the Warriors en route to their first win of the series, and it was a role reversal after the Kings owned the rebounding battle in the first two games.
2. A Sacramento drought
Well, this is one the Kings will surely soon want to forget. Credit the Warriors, they absolutely locked in on defense on a night where they were without their two best defenders in Green and Payton II, but Sacramento also just missed a ton of open looks. This is a team that ranked ninth in the league in 3-point percentage (36.9%), and yet they mustered just 23.9% in Game 3. If you take away some of the garbage time 3s the Kings made, they really only connected on nine of those shots while taking over 40 attempts. Oof. Kevin Huerter again struggled from beyond the arc, and he's now just 3 of 20 during this series. That is a far cry from the 40% 3-point shooter he was during the regular season.
But Huerter wasn't the only Kings shooter who was M.I.A. tonight. Malik Monk, who has been vital in Sacramento's two wins in this series was a non-factor all night. He finished with just four points in 24 minutes of action, going 0 for 4 from deep and 1 of 9 from the field. You're not going to win many games when two of your best 3-point shooters are struggling to drain shots.
The shots from beyond the arc weren't falling, and the Warriors did a decent job of keeping the Kings out of the paint for majority of the game. There was also the fact that, despite an efficient 15-point, 16-rebound performance from Sabonis, he committed six turnovers. That was primarily due to the Warriors having active hands pretty much any time he touched the ball in the paint and it led to transition buckets on the other end. The good news for Sacramento is, given how potent this offense is, it's unlikely they'll shoot the ball this poorly again.
Warriors have momentum entering Game 4
The pressure is still on Golden State right now, because you lose Game 4 and you head back to a rowdy Golden 1 Center on the brink of elimination. However, that blowout win tonight gives the Warriors tons of momentum heading into Sunday where they'll be getting Green and potentially Payton II back. The Warriors showed why they've won so many titles in the past decade Thursday night, and forced the Kings to cover a ton of ground on the defensive end with their spacing. The crazy thing is, the Warriors didn't even shoot the ball particularly well, making their 3s at a 32% clip, but that proved to be just enough to cruise to a win.
Things will change when Green returns, especially with the spacing, but if the Warriors can bottle the success from tonight for Sunday, we could be looking at a tied series.