What we learned as JK and Buddy lead the Warriors to preseason victory over the Kings originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SACRAMENTO – The last time the Warriors stepped foot on center court at Golden 1, their season ended in embarrassing fashion at the hands of a resounding defeat of the Sacramento Kings in the NBA Play-In tournament six months ago.
Revenge isn’t served in the preseason, but the Warriors had plenty of reasons to be happy with their 122-112 win over the Kings.
Buddy Hieldoriginally drafted 6th overall by the Kings in 2016, scored a game-high 22 points. He was plus-13 in 19 minutes, making eight of his nine shot attempts, as well as going 6 of 7 from three.
Up and down the team, the Warriors lit it up from long range and took care of the ball as well. The Warriors made 21 more threes than the Kings. They also had 34 assists on 44 made shots, turning the ball over just 13 times.
Off-season star acquisition from Kings DeMar DeRozan scored 15 points in 15 minutes, making all six of his shots in his debut with his new team.
Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ improvement to 2-0 in the preseason.
New starting five
Steve Kerr said this training camp and preseason has been about finding the right combinations to figure out who fits best. The first group he went with on Saturday to Hawaii was Steph Curry, De’Anthony Melton, Jonathan Kuminga, Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis. In the second game of the preseason, Kerr opted to trade Brandin Podziemski for Melton and Kevon Looney replaced Jackson-Davis at center.
This starting five didn’t play together once all of last season.
When Kerr first turned to his bench four days ago, the Warriors trailed 17-12. The revamped starting five trailed 16-13 before Kerr made his first trade Wednesday night, sending Jackson-Davis for Looney. Curry then tied the game seconds later with a 3-pointer.
Looney started the game by hitting a mid-range jump shot and took just one more shot for the rest of the game. Green in over 16 minutes scored 10 points with five assists, two rebounds and two turnovers. Kuminga struggled with foul trouble early, but showcased his improved jump shot with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including 4-of-7 from beyond the arc. Podziemski dished out eight assists, also scoring eight points, grabbing four rebounds and two steals.
Apart from the first five minutes and 45 seconds of the first quarter, the starting team did not share the floor again throughout the match.
Steph Show comes to the bag
Even at 36 years old and entering his 16th season, Curry may still get first-game jitters. Or maybe he just had an off day in Honolulu when the all-time shooting great went 2 of 8 from the field and missed all four of his 3-point attempts to open the preseason. Back in Northern California, Curry found his chance and gave traveling Golden State fans something to cheer about.
Curry in the first quarter scored eight points, making all three of his shots, including two 3-pointers.
In the second quarter, Curry scored five more points to give him 13 for the night. Curry went 2 of 4 in the quarter and made one of his three tries from behind the 3-point line. In just under 16 minutes, Curry looked a lot more like himself than he did a few days ago.
His minus-7 plus/minus was the lowest in the Warriors’ starting lineup, however. For the second straight game, he and Green did not play in the second half.
3 point parade
The Warriors rained down 48 3-pointers in their first preseason game, while connecting on just 11. And Lindy Waters III had five.
During Kerr’s pregame media availability, I asked the Warriors coach about that high three number, and here’s what he had to say: “I don’t necessarily have a number in mind .I want to take a lot of them, and I want them.” To be good shots, we have to be better in transition. We should get more three points in transition than the last two years. We are working hard on this. Our points per possession in transition have been two years in a row. 26th, 27th in the championship.
“Part of it is turnovers, and part of it is that we need to do a better job as a coaching staff with our spacing. And then in the half court, yeah, we’d much rather have a shot to three rather than a mid-range shot. I also like good mid-range shots. We’re trying to find the balance.
Letting him fly has been a priority of Kerr’s for his Warriors, and they did it again in Sacramento. This time, with much more success.
By halftime, they had already made 27 three-pointers and made 15. Along with Curry’s three 3-pointers, Hield made all four of his attempts. Melton made three in the first half, and Green and Kuminga also each made a pair.
They ended up totaling 52 3-point attempts, making 28, which was good for a 53.8 percent clip. In total, 10 Warriors made a three, and eight of those players made more than one.
Their 28 3-pointers would have been a franchise record if it were a regular season game.
