Extraordinary Warriors closing lineup predictably falls short late in Sacramento

With Wednesday night's game against the Sacramento Kings tied in the dying minutes, the Golden State Warriors had a closing lineup on the floor that no one could have possibly predicted.

Second-year forward Gui Santos and rookie big man Quinten Post were holding down two of the front court positions, signifying a need for energy and offense within a depleted Warrior rotation.

The offense wasn't forthcoming though, with Stephen Curry constantly double-teamed and once again not finding the necessary support as Golden State were outscored 10-4 in the final 1:45.

The Warriors suffered a 123-117 defeat to the Kings on Wednesday

Despite still being without Jonathan Kuminga, Draymond Green, Brandin Podziemski and Kyle Anderson, the Warriors produced one of their best first-halves of the season to take a 65-48 lead which included a 41-28 second-quarter.

Golden State still led by 12 when Curry subbed out with four minutes to play in the third, only to see that advantage evaporate almost instantly as the teams headed to the fourth tied at 85. What followed was a series of momentum shifts, with 9-0 and 8-0 Warrior runs intersected by a 13-0 Kings run.

Ultimately the Warriors lacked the man power and talent to overcome the surging hosts, with DeMar DeRozan taking over in the second-half to finish with 32 points while Domantas Sabonis had 26 points and 18 rebounds.

It was a bizarre game for the Warriors to say the least. There was a lot of good particularly from a couple of young players, and they arguably should have won the game despite Curry scoring just 14 points.

Recognizing the lack of offensive talent around the 2x MVP, Sacramento made sure to limit Curry to just 11 field-goal attempts in his 34 minutes. That led to 12 assists for Curry and 22 made threes for Golden State in one of their better shooting nights of the season.

Santos had a career-high 16 points and five rebounds on 4-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc, while Post delivered five points and six rebounds in his first big taste of action in a close, high-intensity game. Both players showed positive signs, but there was no surprise that they came up short against seasoned veterans like DeRozan, Sabonis, De'Aaron Fox and Malik Monk.

Andrew Wiggins had a team-high 25 points, but shot just 8-of-20 from the floor and had some shaky moments late. Buddy Hield added 17 on 5-of-9 3-point shooting, yet couldn't get to that magical 18-point mark that's seen the Warriors go 10-0 in such games this season.

Steve Kerr changed up the starting lineup with Kevon Looney chosen to take the early minutes against Sabonis, only for the veteran center to be ruled out in the second-half due to illness. Trayce Jackson-Davis had 11 points and eight rebounds in 24 minutes, but was interestingly benched down the stretch for the unproven Post.

Dennis Schroder also notably played his first game off the bench in a Golden State uniform, failing to have too much positive impact in ending with seven points and five assists on 3-of-8 shooting in 21 minutes.

The Warriors have once again moved below .500 and will hope to respond when they return home to face the Chicago Bulls at Chase Center in a second night of a back-to-back on Thursday.