Golden State Warriors get rare road win, take series lead over Sacramento Kings
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Stephen Curry (right) of the Golden State Warriors and De'Aaron Fox of the Sacramento Kings during the NBA play-offs, on April 26, 2023.
PHOTO: AFP
Follow topic:
SACRAMENTO – The Golden State Warriors are banking on experience to get them through the National Basketball Association (NBA) Western Conference play-offs, said their coach Steve Kerr.
On Wednesday night, Stephen Curry scored 31 points and dished out eight assists, while Klay Thompson added 25 points as the visiting Warriors moved one victory away from the semi-finals by defeating the Sacramento Kings 123-116.
Golden State have not been at their best this campaign, finishing sixth in the regular season and the victory over the Kings, their third in a row, came after two straight losses to start this best-of-seven series.
However, the Warriors are the NBA defending champions and have also won the title in 2018, 2017 and 2015 under Kerr.
“The experience that they’ve had over the last decade playing in a lot of big games, it’s definitely helpful. They did a great job tonight of staying poised down the stretch when Sacramento made their run and really made some big plays in the last five minutes,” their coach said.
“This is a different team than what we had all year. What happened in November and December and January on the road has nothing to do with right now. This is the team we’re looking at, is a team that won a championship last year and won a ton of road play-off games. Our guys know how to do it and got it done tonight.”
Golden State had just 11 road victories in the regular season but, on Wednesday, they became the first away team to win in this series against the Kings.
Draymond Green added 21 points and Andrew Wiggins had 20, while Kevon Looney grabbed 22 rebounds as the Warriors took a 3-2 lead and will return home for Game 6 on Friday in San Francisco for their first chance to advance.
De’Aaron Fox had 24 points, nine assists and seven rebounds for the Kings despite playing with an avulsion fracture at the tip of the index finger on his left (shooting) hand. The injury occurred during Game 4 on Sunday. Domantas Sabonis and Malik Monk each scored 21 points for Sacramento, with Sabonis grabbing 10 rebounds.
Elsewhere in the West, Ja Morant led a superb second-half rally as the Memphis Grizzlies kept their campaign alive with a 116-99 home victory over LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers.
Morant led a devastating 19-2 run to close the third quarter that effectively sealed victory for the Grizzlies, who led 94-76 heading into the fourth.
He finished with 31 points and 10 rebounds, while Desmond Bane led the Memphis scoring with 33 points as they cut the Lakers’ series lead to 3-2.
Anthony Davis led the Lakers with 31 points, but James had a night to forget, shooting just five-of-17 for 15 points.
“It’s not about what AD and myself are doing, it’s about how we can win basketball games,” James said.
“And tonight I was s**t – I’ll be better in Game 6.” REUTERS, AFP
