Kings dominate injured Warriors
Los Angeles, March 17: Defending champions Golden State saw Israeli forward Omri Casspi hurt and their bid to overtake Houston for the NBA’s best record faltered on Friday with a 93- 98 loss to Sacramento Kings.
Buddy Hield came off the Sacramento bench to score 22 points to lead the Kings against a struggling Warriors squad without Durant and star guards Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
Golden State were without Curry, out with a sore right ankle, and Thompson, sidelined by a broken right thumb. Both will be evaluated next week.
Joining the injury list was reserve Casspi, who sprained his right ankle landing on a rival’s foot in the second quarter after playing only six minutes.
Golden State’s Quinn Cook scored a career- best 25 points in 40 minutes on the court and Draymond Green added 14 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
But the Kings ( 23- 47) closed the game on an 11- 3 run to capture their first back- to- back wins since late January.
That dropped Golden State to 52- 17 and 2 1/ 2 games behind Western Conference leader Houston for the best record in the NBA.
With injuries nagging them and the Rockets showing no sign of misfiring, the Warriors might not be able to overtake Houston for the overall playoff home- court edge.
“It’s a harrowing experience — I’m just trying to process it all,” joked Warriors coach Steve Kerr. “Second in the conference would just be devastating.”
Then he turned serious, trying to put the injuries and best- record chase into perspective.
“We’re not really paying too much attention to the standings. We are just playing,” Kerr said.
“We’re in a good position big picture no matter what happens because our injuries are all relatively minor. We’re very hopeful and confident that we’ll have everybody back when it counts,” he added further.
That means when playoffs start April 14. RAPTORS OUTLAST
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The Warriors’ loss left the level for second overall in the NBA with the Eastern Conference- leading Toronto Raptors, who matched the all- time best team win streak by winning their 11th game in a row, downing Dallas 122- 115 in overtime.
The Raptors, who own the NBA’s best home record at 29- 5, had 29 points from DeMar DeRozan, including a short jump shot with 53.1 seconds left in overtime that put the Raptors up 117115.
Jonas Valanciunas then made five of six free throws in the waning seconds to seal the victory, finishing with 21 points and 12 rebounds for Raptors.
“I’m not completely happy, because I see the big picture, but I like the fight,” Toronto coach Dwane Casey said. “I like the way the guys competed.”