The Golden State Warriors have continued their unbeaten run to begin preseason, backing up two victories over the Los Angeles Lakers with a 121-115 overtime victory against the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center on Sunday night.
Playing without point-guards Stephen Curry and Chris Paul, third-year forward Jonathan Kuminga again took advantage of the extra opportunity. The former seventh overall pick got to the free-throw line on 17 occasions as he recorded 28 points, leading the game in scoring for a third-straight time.
Ably supported by Andrew Wiggins, Moses Moody and Lester Quinones, Jonathan Kuminga again led the Golden State Warriors in a tight 121-115 win.
For the second-straight game on the road, the Warriors were unable to prevent a barrage of early threes from their opponents as the Kings begun 5-6 from deep in the opening five minutes. That was the catalyst for a 38-25 opening period, with the Golden State offense looking a little rough without the creation of Curry and Paul.
Their offensive issues continued early in the second, although that was counteracted by Gary Payton II who almost single-handedly stifled the Kings attack with some active perimeter defense.
While Sacramento maintained at 50% shooting through the first-half, they were limited to just 21 points in the second period. Golden State’s offense remained far from fluent, but some individual shot-making from Andrew Wiggins, Klay Thompson and Kuminga helped them to within three points.
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With Thompson out for the second-half, the Warrior offense became more reliant on their athletic wings in Wiggins and Kuminga. An explosive transition layup from the latter gave the Warriors a 68-64 halfway through the third, with the Kings going cold from deep after their bright start.
Both teams went further into their reserves late in quarter as Warrior rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis saw his first playing time. Neither team was able to create separation in a back-and-forth contest, leaving the game tied at 83 with 12 minutes to play.
The teams went blow-for-blow throughout the fourth as well, with Kuminga returning to impart his influence on the offensive end. The 21-year-old had 11 points in the final period of regulation, only for the Kings to close on a 5-0 run over the final 50 seconds to send the game to overtime.
An impressive showing from Lester Quinones continued with a triple to start overtime, but it was the Golden State defense that eventually proved enough to pull out their third-straight victory to start preseason.
An aggressive Kuminga added six rebounds to go with his 28 points, though his 7-18 shooting wasn’t as efficient as the opening two games. Wiggins had 20 points on 6-11 shooting in just 22 minutes, while Quinones had 18 points, four rebounds and four assists in his best performance since Summer League.
Golden State shot just 42.5% from the field, yet addressed their turnover issues from Friday with just 13 despite the absence of Paul and Curry. They’ll have another two days off before meeting the Kings again at Chase Center on Wednesday night.