Warriors at Kings
The Golden State Warriors looked unlike themselves for two games and half of another before busting out and finding their winning form again on Saturday. The Warriors will try to put back-to-back wins together and stop a road slide when they visit the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday. The Kings snapped an eight-game losing streak with a win at Indiana on Saturday, concluding a road trip that began with a 126-101 loss at Golden State on Jan. 23.
The Warriors matched a season-high with two straight losses and were ahead of the Phoenix Suns by one at the half on Saturday before coming alive after the break and locking down on defense in a 106-87 win. “Our guys just really did a good job of staying at home on three-point shooters, closing out when they did get openings and making everything difficult,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr told reporters. “It wasn’t pretty offensively, but I’m confident the offense will follow now that we’re back defensively.” Sacramento has lost each of the three meetings with the Warriors this season by an average of 21 points.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, CSN Bay Area (Golden State), CSN California (Sacramento)
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (37-8): Golden State leads the NBA in defensive field-goal percentage (42.1) but slacked a bit on that end in back-to-back losses and fell to 2-5 in their last seven road games in a 110-100 loss at Utah on Friday. Stephen Curry was the only starter to score more than 12 points with 32 against the Jazz and stepped up again with 25 points to help the Warriors out of the funk on Saturday. “You try to pick and choose your spots, but I’ve been extra-aggressive the past two nights - just trying to get some life going,” Curry told reporters. “We got back into the game (against the Suns), and the rest is history with our defensive effort to seal this win.”
ABOUT THE KINGS (17-29): Sacramento allowed an average of 108.4 points during its losing streak but turned in a better effort on the defensive end in the 99-94 win over Indiana. “I thought we did a good job of executing down the stretch, I thought we stayed poised,” All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins told reporters. “When we faced a little adversity we didn’t get rattled.” The win came despite a down night offensively from Cousins, who went 6-of-24 from the field and is 11-of-41 in the last two contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Kings F Rudy Gay has scored at least 20 points in three straight games after going scoreless in the Jan. 23 loss at Golden State.
2. Warriors C Festus Ezeli (ankle) is expected to return Tuesday after missing the last 18 games.
3. Golden State has taken seven straight in the series, including three in a row at Sacramento.