The season’s penultimate contest provided one of its most surprising results, as the Sacramento Kings sat most of their stars and yet the bench came through with an impressive defensive effort and a 113-97 victory over the Golden State Warriors in the home finale.
De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk all sat this one out in real life, and they did on the tabletop as well. Instead of losing by 23, the reserves willed the Kings to a 16-point victory after holding the Warriors to 39.4% shooting overall and just 17 points in the fourth quarter.
The two holdover starters led the way, Keegan Murray tied his season high with 25 points and had a double-double with 10 rebounds. Harrison Barnes added 18 points. Terence Davis scored a season-high 15 points and Davion Mitchell had 12 points and eight assists.
Stephen Curry led all scorers with 32 points.
The Kings (47-34) can match their real-life total of 48 wins with a victory at Denver in the season finale.
2022-23 Sacramento Kings Replay Home Page
Golden State had the better of things in the first quarter, taking a couple of seven-point leads and going up 27-23 at the end of the period. The Kings went ahead quickly in the second quarter and took a couple of six-point leads. But it was tied at 51 at halftime.
The lead again went back and forth in the third quarter. The Warriors went up by seven at 64-57. The Kings went ahead by four at 73-69. Sacramento led 83-80 heading to the final period.
The Kings never trailed in the fourth. It was a six-point game at 98-92 with under seven minutes to play. Sacramento’s defense clamped down from there, not allowing the Warriors to score for six minutes of action. Murray hit a pair of three-pointers in a 14-0 run that put the game away.
This game was played with Bank Shot Basketball.
