Harrison Barnes exploded for a season-high 39 points against his old team, then contributed a block to two game-saving defensive stands down the stretch as the Sacramento Kings held on for a 134-133 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night in San Francisco.
Golden State took a rare lead on consecutive hoops by Jonathan Kuminga, the second coming on a dunk that put the hosts up 133-132 with 47.1 seconds to go. Then the Kings caught a break when Kevin Huerter’s missed 3-pointer deflected to Stephen Curry, who was lying partially out of bounds with 28 seconds left.
Domantas Sabonis capped the game’s scoring and gave Sacramento a one-point lead on a dunk of his own shortly after an inbounds play, setting the stage for the Kings to win the high-scoring affair at the defensive end.
First, Barnes blocked Kuminga’s interior attempt with 17.1 seconds left, forcing the Warriors to foul Huerter.
Then, after Huerter missed both of his free throws with 15 seconds remaining, Golden State put the ball in the hands of Curry, who lost control of his dribble 40 feet from the basket, allowing De’Aaron Fox to record a steal and run out the clock.
The thriller capped a 2-2 season series between the Northern California rivals, who also went the distance in a seven-game playoff series last April, with the last three games decided by one point.
Coming off a 32-point effort in a home win over the Atlanta Hawks on Monday, Barnes used 7-for-12 shooting on 3-pointers for the foundation of his game-high scoring night Thursday.
Sabonis finished with 18 points, a game-high 13 assists and eight rebounds. Fox scored 29 points, and Keegan Murray added 14. Huerter scored 12 to complement a game-high 10 rebounds. Davion Mitchell added 10 points.
Fox and Huerter had three 3-pointers apiece, adding to Sacramento’s total of 22 in 48 attempts. The Warriors, led by Curry’s six, went 19-for-37.
Curry paced Golden State with 33 points. Kuminga scored 31, Andrew Wiggins 17, Klay Thompson 16 and Dario Saric 14.
Curry also added a team-high six rebounds, while Draymond Green had a team-high 11 assists to go with five points, four rebounds and three steals.
The Warriors outshot the visitors 55.8 percent to 52.7 percent.
–Field Level Media
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