Warriors at Kings
The Golden State Warriors are rolling up victories as the league's lone
unbeaten squad and look to improve to 7-0 when they visit the Sacramento
Kings on Saturday. Golden State has started strong in defense of its
NBA championship and reigning MVP Stephen Curry has scored 30 or more in
five of the first six games - the first player to achieve that since
Kobe Bryant in 2009-10.
Curry knocked down eight 3-pointers for the second time this season and had 34 points and 10 assists in Friday's 119-104 victory over the Denver Nuggets. He is averaging 35.5 points, 6.5 assists and 2.3 steals and has already made 36 3-pointers while shooting 51.4 percent from behind the arc. Sacramento has lost four consecutive contests and will be without All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins (strained Achilles' tendon) for the fourth straight game. The Kings are 6-20 without Cousins since the start of last season after falling 116-110 to the Houston Rockets on Friday.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, CSN Bay Area (Golden State), CSN California (Sacramento)
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (6-0): Shooting guard Klay Thompson always enjoys seeing the Kings on the schedule, particularly after setting an NBA record with 37 points in a quarter while scoring a career-best 52 against them last January. The club hopes playing against Sacramento will get Thompson going as he has yet to score 20 points in a game this season and the four 3-pointers he made against Denver marked the first time he connected on more than two. The All-Star had his best all-around game of the season against the Nuggets with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists.
ABOUT THE KINGS (1-5): Sacramento typically has offensive issues when Cousins isn't in the lineup and the starting five shot 16-of-50 against the Rockets. Small forward Rudy Gay becomes the top option but is 9-of-28 shooting over the past two games and 3-point specialist Marco Belinelli missed all five attempts from behind the arc against Houston and is 6-for-23 from long range over the past five games. Backup point guard Darren Collison had season highs of 22 points and nine assists Friday and his surprisingly good 15.8 scoring average is getting him some time at shooting guard due to Ben McLemore's disappointing start as well as spelling starting point guard Rajon Rondo.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Warriors have won the past eight meetings and the average victory margin in last season's four games was 22 points.
2. Sacramento F Omri Casspi scored a season-best 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting on Friday after going 3-of-12 over the previous two contests.
3. Golden State C Festus Ezeli had a career-high 16 points on Friday while again starting in place of C Andrew Bogut (concussion), who is close to returning.