Golden State Warriors vs. Sacramento Kings Recap

November 05, 2012; Sacramento, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors center Andrew Bogut (12) and Sacramento Kings power forward Jason Thompson (34) go up for the tip off at Sleep Train Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-US PRESSWIRE

Wanna know how to lose to one of the NBA’s worst teams? Well, for starters, you shoot 39 percent from the field and 28 percent from three, despite getting a ton of really good looks. After that, get beaten on the boards by a margin of 43-36 and you should be well on the way to blowing a game you absolutely should have won.

The Warriors followed the recipe precisely in dropping an absolutely awful game to the Kings in Sacramento on Monday. The fell to the worst team in the Pacific division by a score of 92-94.

Klay Thompson missed a shot to tie the game with 10 seconds left (one of about seven attempts of his that missed by the narrowest of margins) and Stephen Curry couldn’t hit a desperation three to win it at the buzzer.

It would be incredibly easy to criticize Mark Jackson for leaving Harrison Barnes in the game after a handful of critical rookie mistakes. Barnes wasn’t hitting from the field and committed an egregiously dumb foul on Isaiah Thomas—hard enough to draw a whistle, but not hard enough to prevent the make. But Barnes wasn’t the key issue.

It’d be fair to knock the rotations Jackson used, too. Carl Landry played just 19 minutes and got virtually no touches down the stretch, despite being the Warriors’ best offensive option in the early going this season. But Landry looked a little disinterested at times and didn’t assert himself the way he had in the Dubs’ previous three contests. So that wouldn’t address the real issue, either.

The problem in this game was that the Warriors missed a lot of shots that they normally make. Sorry if that’s not an exciting piece of analysis, but it’s the truth.

Thompson rattled at least a half dozen shots in and out of the bucket. He didn’t miss badly on any of his attempts, almost all of which were quality looks. Curry, remarkable inconsistent so far this year, shot just 3-of-15 from the field. If he makes two more shots, the Warriors win this one. That’s all there is to it.

But, neither Curry nor Thompson had any luck shooting the ball and nobody else stepped up to fill the void. So the result was a loss to a team that the Warriors had no business losing to. These are the types of games you can’t really do anything about, but they’re also the types of games that keep teams like the Warriors out of the playoffs.

Notes:

• Bogut played well, despite clearly tweaking his ankle in a fall. Even when he couldn’t move at all, he was still the Dubs’ best defender. He put up 12 points in just 18 minutes.
• Festus Ezeli continued to play extremely hard and you’ve got to love how he tries to dunk everything. But he also has started rushing on offense whenever he touches the ball. His hands were exceptionally poor against the Kings, as well.
• Big, black pieces of some kind of tarp fell from the arena ceiling three separate times during the game. Bush league. Get it together, Sacramento. At least act like you want to have an NBA team.
• DeMarcus Cousins had 23 and 15, but still managed to make it seem like he doesn’t help his team win. If he’s ever a big part of a winning team, I’ll eat my hat.
• Tyreke Evans is just dreadful. As a basketball player. He might be a nice guy, though.
• Aaron Brooks came of the bench to hit about four completely garbage shots. His shot 5-of-8, but his percentage on contested, ill-advised jumpers was much better than that.