Game Preview: Warriors At Kings
By ALAN FERGUSON
STATS Writer
It's highly unlikely that Klay Thompson will come close to matching his latest performance against the Sacramento Kings.
The Golden State Warriors would probably settle for enough scoring from Thompson to get them a win in their start to a hectic and road-heavy stretch Tuesday night.
Thompson broke NBA records during a home game against Sacramento on Jan. 23 with 37 points in the third quarter and nine of his 11 3-pointers. The Warriors' All-Star finished with a career-high 52 points on 16-of-25 shooting in a 126-101 victory.
"I was one of the luckiest NBA players ever to play with Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan, David Robinson and some of the greatest players ever," coach Steve Kerr said. "As many spectacular things as Michael did, which he did nightly, I never saw him do that."
The Warriors (37-8) will try to extend a seven-game win streak over Sacramento (17-29) in the first of their six games in nine days before the All-Star break. They'll play five of those on the road and will have 11 of their next 13 contests away from home, where they've lost five of seven.
"It's going to be huge for us, especially on the road against some good teams," point guard Stephen Curry said. "We'll look forward to the All-Star break to get some rest, but we've got some business to take care of before we get there."
Golden State enters this matchup after ending a two-game skid with a 106-87 victory over visiting Phoenix on Saturday. Leading by one at the break, the Warriors took command by outscoring the Suns 54-36 in the second half.
Curry led the way with 25 points and Thompson scored 22 after being held to 12 in a 110-100 loss in Utah on Friday.
"It's very rare to have a group of guys who have a passion of hate for losing," said forward Andre Iguodala. "We drop two, we're not the type of guys you want to be around. I think the second half we just said, 'Let's get it together. Let's get the toughness started and let's get another streak rolling.'"
Sacramento ended an eight-game skid - its longest in four seasons - with a 99-94 win at Indiana on Saturday and Rudy Gay scored 31 points, his second-most this season.
"We needed to get a win, a tough road win," said coach Tyrone Corbin, 6-16 since taking over for the fired Michael Malone on Dec. 15. "We were able to stick it out at the end and get it."
Gay, the Kings second-leading scorer at 20.4 points per game, was ejected in the second quarter of last month's loss at Golden State and finished scoreless. Leading scorer and All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins had 28 points and 11 rebounds.
Gay has averaged 9.3 points on 26.2 percent shooting (11 of 42) in his last four matchups with the Warriors.
Thompson has averaged 27.1 points and shot 54.7 percent in Golden State's seven consecutive wins over its Northern California rivals. He missed 10 of 14 shots in a 95-77 road win Oct. 29 but finished with 19 points.
The Warriors have won three in a row in Sacramento for their longest win streak there since a six-game run March 2, 1992-Dec. 17, 1993.