Steve Kerr Ejected, Sacramento Kings Blast Golden State Warriors, 111-98

The Sacramento Kings have shredded to pieces the injured Golden State Warriors tonight and recorded a 111-98 win at the Golden One Center. It was a confident win for the hosts, who finally looked as they should, but against a team who is overwhelmed with injuries throughout most of the season.

The final result perfectly describes the balance of power on the floor, although the first period didn’t start too well for the Kings. It was a tight game midway through the opening quarter, but the home team grabbed a lead to close that part of the game in their favor.

The Kings would start to get away to a double-digit advantage, and with 1:44 before the end of the half, the officials ejected frustrated Steve Kerr, who went berserk and started shouting at Jason Goldenberg.

“Wake your ass up! Wake your ass up! Let’s go! Wake up! Wake up!” he shouted.

The only problematic thing is that it seemed that the ones who are not awake were his players, who were 0 for 13 for three points in the first two periods. They would end the game with 5 threes in 26 attempts.

Sacramento was especially impressive in the third period, which they won 38-24, and created the biggest lead, 85-54. Eventually, hosts slowed down in the end, not being able to add any points in the last three and a half minutes, but that didn’t matter at all. Yet, Luke Walton did leave the starters late in the game, just in case.

“Twelve minutes is a long time, especially when you have been losing games. Momentum in this league changes quickly. They were still, in my opinion, within striking distance and we had a couple of the guys that haven’t played a lot of minutes,” he said.

De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield scored 21 points each. Fox added 7 assists and 4 boards, but he also had six turnovers. Hield had five assists.

Harrison Barnes ended the night with 18 buckets, same as Trevor Ariza, who came off the bench and had 6 boards in 32 minutes. Cory Joseph scored 12.

Hosts fired 30 long-distance hits, and they made 15, having a better percentage for three than for two, 24-for-52. On the other hand, Sacramento had 23 turnovers and was 18-for-23 from the free-throw line.

“Good to get a win. Message is the same. Turnovers and free throw attempts, we did a nice job correcting that earlier in the season, but now we are starting to foul a lot again and turn the ball over…we gotta correct that soon,” added hosts’ coach.

The Kings were playing without Bogdan Bogdanovic, who is in the media middle of attention after Vlade Divac started negotiating about his trade to the Lakers for Kyle Kuzma. WagerBop.com wrote about that possibility three weeks ago.

Among the Warriors, four players had a double-digit number of points. Glen Robinson III was the one with the team-high, 16, Omari Spellman had 13 off the bench, Eric Paschall added 12, and Alec Burks scored 10.

Golden State (9-29) has two very tough opponents waiting in the next two matches. The first one is the Milwaukee at home, and the second the Clippers on the road. Following that, they travel to Memphis to meet the Grizzlies.

Sacramento (14-23) faces Phoenix Suns already tomorrow, in Arizona, and comes back to Golden One Center afterward, for a three-game homestand. The opponents are going to be, the Bucks, Magic and the Mavs.