Wiggins scores 25 points in Warriors’ win vs. Kings
Andrew Wiggins scored 25 points and Nemanja Bjelica recorded his third double-double of the season in the Warriors’ dominant 109-90 victory over the Kings on Sunday.
The Warriors earned the win over a subpar Kings team without the help of Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala and Otto Porter Jr., who sat out Sunday’s game for injury management. Golden State was also without Stephen Curry who’s been ruled out for the remainder of the season as he nurses a sprained ligament in his left foot.
With most of the Warriors stars resting on the backend of the back-to-back, coach Steve Kerr got looks at a few different lineups as he works to finetune his playoff rotation.
Bejlica had his best outing of the season against his former team. He finished with season highs in both points (19) and rebounds (12).
Bejlica, who’s earned more minutes over the last four games after two DNPs on the Warriors’ disappointing road trip,
could be playing himself into the Warriors’ playoff rotation. Coach Steve Kerr previously said he liked the spacing and passing Bejlica gives the secondary unit.
“Bejli gives us what we don’t have, which is big who can space the floor,” Kerr said. “And even though he’s not a guy who’s going to shoot a million threes, you have to respect him out there. And when you go challenge him out there, he can put it on the floor and pass it and move it. So I think given the makeup of our team, Bejli is an important piece for us.”
Rookie Jonathan Kuminga was another who benefitted from the stars’ absences. He had several highlight reel-worthy dunks including a high-flying slam at the end of the second quarter. He recorded 17 points and five rebounds in 31 minutes.
Jordan Poole got the Warriors’ going offensively in the second half, opening the third quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers which forced the Kings to take a timeout. He’s now one of only 10 Warriors to score 20 or more points in 17 straight games.
And Wiggins had another solid night, shooting 50% overall and went 4-of-7 (or 57.1%) from 3-point range.
Kerr has liked what he’s seen from Wiggins as of late.
“When our team makes sense, Andrew gets comfortable,” Kerr said. “He’s been maybe a focal point in terms of his struggles, our struggles, but our team has been scattered over the last six weeks with the injuries, the absences, the shifting lineups, playing different guys in different roles, Andrew is best suited to play in a specific role… onball defense and support offensive player.”
The Warriors earned their 50th win of the season. The team has reached that mark in seven of its last nine seasons and a total of 10 times in franchise history.
Golden State, who clinched its first playoff in two years with a
thrilling comeback win over the Utah Jazz Friday, remains in sole possession of the No. 3 seed of the Western Conference, sitting one game ahead of the Dallas Mavericks, who are in
fourth.
The Warriors (50-29) are off Monday and could practice Tuesday and Wednesday before hosting the Los Angeles Lakers Thursday for their final game at Chase Center
of the regular season. They’ll close out the season with a back-to-back set on the road, stopping in San Antonio Saturday before their regular-season finale in New Orleans April 10.