Kings at Warriors
The Golden State Warriors don’t seem to have many weaknesses and are crushing opponents of late. The Warriors will look to extend their franchise record to 18 straight home victories while pushing their NBA-record to 11 straight home wins by 13 or more points when they host the Sacramento Kings on Friday. The Kings are losers of five in a row and have dropped the two meetings this season with Golden State by an average of 19 points.
The trip to the Warriors marks the start of a five-game road trip for Sacramento, which is searching for answers during a stretch of 16 losses in 21 games. “We’ve got to figure out how we’re going to help each other,” guard Darren Collison told the Sacramento Bee. “We’ve got to figure out how we’re going to communicate every single time. We’ve got to figure out how we’re going to play with the defensive intensity every single time. Until we do those three things, we won’t be a good basketball team.” Golden State has no such problems and has won its last three games by an average of 27 points.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, CSN California (Sacramento), CSN Bay Area (Golden State)
ABOUT THE KINGS (16-26): The last two losses have been particularly frustrating for Sacramento, which squandered a double-digit lead in the second half at Portland on Monday and fell into a 23-point hole at home against Brooklyn on Wednesday before rallying to a 103-100 loss. DeMarcus Cousins is doing his part with averages of 25 points and 16.5 rebounds in those two games but can’t seem to push his team over the top. “Come to work ready to play, everybody, myself included,” Cousins told reporters. “The solution is easy. Come out and play hard from start to finish.”
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (34-6): Golden State is averaging 118.5 points while winning 11 of its last 12 games and locked up coaching responsibilities for the Western Conference in the All-Star game for first-year coach Steve Kerr’s staff with Wednesday’s 126-113 win over the Rockets. The Warriors have the most first-half wins in franchise history and Kerr’s emphasis on movement on both ends of the floor is one of the big reasons. “It’s fun to move around,” Kerr told the San Francisco Chronicle. “If you stand around, you get into a wrestling match every night, offensively and defensively - that’s more tiring. The way we play is fun, our guys get after it, they move, we play a lot of people.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Kings F Rudy Gay is averaging 20.3 points this month but was held to 13.5 on 9-of-29 shooting in the two games against Golden State.
2. Warriors G Klay Thompson has hit multiple 3-pointers in a career-high and active NBA-best 19 straight games.
3. Golden State’s 19-1 mark at home is the best in franchise history through 20 games.