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The Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings locked horns for a thrilling NBA In-Season Tournament contest that appeared to be all but handled by the visiting Bay Area squad. However, the Kings took care of business on their home court and won the game while eliminating the Warriors from tournament play and advancing.
The first half of the contest on Tuesday (November 28) saw the Warriors, led by Andrew Wiggins and Klay Thompson’s scoring, go up big on the Kings and looked to be cruising to an easy win and advancing to the knockout round of the tournament. However, the second half saw an offensive explosion from Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter, who the Warriors couldn’t seem to stop.
There were also a number of careless turnovers due to errant passing by the Warriors. that led to fast-break opportunities for the Kings. The game was also the return of Draymond Green after a five-game suspension for slapping a rear-naked choke onto Rudy Gobert during an on-court altercation.
De’Aaron Fox led all Kings scorers with 29 and was equally unstoppable down the stretch. Fox and Huerter’s burst in the second half was timely as Kings big man Domantas Sabonis only contributed 9 points.
The story of the game and the topic of discussion online was the play of Stephen Curry, who also scored 29 points but made just 4 of 12 three-point attempts, including some way outside the arc while heavily guarded. This has led to some calling the Warriors’ loss a choke job online. We’ve got some of those reactions to the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings game below.
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Photo: Lachlan Cunningham / Getty
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Source: Ezra Shaw / Getty / Stephen Curry
Unlike his teammate Draymond Green, Stephen Curry rarely makes a mistake on the court, until yesterday.
The best shooter in basketball, Stephen Curry, almost cost his Golden State Warriors the game, and they could have been down 3-1 heading back to Sacramento after making an egregious blunder.
With just 40 seconds left in the game, the Kings trapped Curry leaving him nowhere to go or pass the ball. So generally, in that situation, you will call a timeout, and that’s what he did.
But there was one issue, the Warriors didn’t have any timeouts left after head coach Steve Kerr lost the team’s final timeout in an unsuccessful challenge that even Draymond Green told him not to do.
“I didn’t realize when we lost the challenge that we didn’t have any timeouts left,” Curry said. Like a true leader, Steve Kerr took the blame for the moment, protecting his all-star player.
Curry still owned up to his mistake, adding, “[Coach] took the blame for it, but I ain’t going to lie: I thought it was the smartest play in the world. I looked at the bench, and everybody was shaking their head. It was an unfortunate situation.”
The Kings took advantage of what many call Steph’s “Chris Webber moment,” referencing retired hooper calling a timeout his team did not have during the 1993 National Championship game costing the Michigan Wolverines the chip.
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With a technical free throw and a three-pointer from the NBA’s most clutch player, De’Aron Fox, the Kings were only down one in a game that at one point looked like a sure win for the Warriors.
The Warriors did survive after Harrison Barnes missed a go-ahead three-pointer.
NBA Twitter Came With The Jokes
As you can imagine, NBA Twitter had plenty of reactions to Curry’s brain lapse and Harrison Barnes’s potential game-winning brick.
You can see those in the gallery below.
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Photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty
1. Accurate
2. Very true
7. Y’all aint right
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Source: Ezra Shaw / Getty / Draymond Green
The Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors first-round playoff series is already becoming an instant classic.
Draymond Green, who is no stranger to drama in the playoffs due to his behavior, is once again the subject of social media chatter.
Green was tossed from the game after he stomped on Sacramento’s forward/center Domantas Sabonis in the Warriors’ Game 2 loss to the Kings on Monday night.
The incident went down in the fourth quarter of a highly contentious game that the Kings wound up winning 114-106 to take a commanding 2-0 in the best-of-seven series.
So what exactly happened?
Keeping that chippy energy, Sabonis fell to the ground and wrapped his arms around Green’s leg. As his Warriors teammates ran up the court, Green appeared to stomp on Sabonis, leaving the Lithuanian hooper in pain.
After a lengthy review, the refs handed Sabonis a technical foul for grabbing Green’s leg, and the Warriors’ superstar was given a flagrant two-foul for pulling off the Stone Cold stomp in an NBA game.
The Golden 1 Center was already on one as they sensed the beam was about to get lit again. Green, who lives for these moments, embraced the boos he received from Kings fans as he took himself off the court and ran to the Warriors’ locker room.
Draymond Green Defends Himself
During his press conference, Green defended his on-court actions adding that Kings’ guard Malik Monk made a similar move to him on Saturday.
“My leg got grabbed. The second time in two nights with the referees just watching,” he told reporters during his post-game press conference.
“I got to land my foot somewhere, and I am not the most flexible person, so it’s not stretching that far. I can only step so far and pulling my leg away, so it is what it is,” he continued.
Reporters asked Green what the referees told him he did he said: “The explanation was I stomped too hard. It was Monk last game so either you’re going to stop it.”
“(Referee) John Goble was looking at Monk hold my leg the last game, and he just let it go, and Zach (Zarba) was clearly watching my leg get held this game and let it go, so I guess ankle grabbing is okay.”
Green even took things further in his Instagram Stories by sharing a photo of Sabonis grabbing his ankle with the caption, “Nothing wrong here. Solid basketball play!!”
Sabonis downplayed the incident during a post-game interview on TNT, saying, “We fell on each other. Stuff happens. It’s basketball. We’ve got to move on to the next play.”
Was Draymond Green Out of Line?
Immediately following the incident, the reactions came in, with many calling for Green, who has a history of these kinds of theatrics, to be suspended.
But some fellow NBA hoopers did come to his defense. Inside The NBA’s Shaquille O’Neal put on his cape for Green.
“I’m not gonna sit up here and be a hypocrite. I would have done the same thing,” O’Neal said.
“Don’t be grabbing me because what am I gonna do? If I stay there and just try to run forward, I’ll fall. You gotta get him up off you. And if you up off me and you in the way, you might get stomped on. Was it a dirty play? Of course, it was a dirty play. But, hey, don’t grab me, and this won’t happen.”
Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley disagreed with him.
Portland TrailBlazers all-star Damian Lillard had an interesting take calling it a “take foul on Sabonis” and saying, “Dray tried to step down.”
Okay.
Draymond Green was doing too damn much. Now his team might pay for his actions once again, as they did in the 2016 NBA Finals.
You can see more reactions in the gallery below.
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Photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty
1. Seriously
2. According to the NBA rules
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