What we learned as JK, Buddy lift Warriors to preseason win vs. Kings

What we learned as JK, Buddy lift Warriors to preseason win vs. Kings originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SACRAMENTO – The last time the Warriors stepped foot on the Golden 1 Center court, their season came to an embarrassing end at the hands of a blowout loss from the Sacramento Kings in the NBA Play-In Tournament six months ago.

Revenge isn’t served in the preseason, but there were plenty of reasons for the Warriors to be happy with their 122-112 win over the Kings.

Buddy Hield, originally drafted No. 6 overall by the Kings in 2016, scored a game-high 22 points. He was a plus-13 in 19 minutes, making eight of his nine shot attempts, as well as going 6 of 7 from three.

Up and down the roster, the Warriors lit it up from long distance and also took care of the ball. The Warriors made 21 more threes than the Kings. They also had 34 assists on 44 made shots, turning the ball over only 13 times.

Kings offseason star acquisition DeMar DeRozan scored 15 points in 15 minutes, making all six of his shots in his debut with his new team.

Here are three takeaways from the Warriors improving to 2-0 in the preseason.

New Starting Five

Steve Kerr has said this training camp and the preseason is all about finding the right combinations to determine who fits best together. The first group he went with Saturday in Hawaii was Steph Curry, De’Anthony Melton, Jonathan Kuminga, Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis. In the second game of the preseason, Kerr opted to swap Brandin Podziemski in for Melton and Kevon Looney replaced Jackson-Davis at center.

That starting five didn’t play together once all of last season.

When Kerr turned to his bench the first time four days ago, the Warriors trailed 17-12. The new-look starting five was down 16-13 before Kerr made his first swap Wednesday night, sending in Jackson-Davis for Looney. Curry then tied the game seconds later with a 3-pointer.

Looney began the game by hitting a mid-range jump shot and only took one more shot the rest of the game. Green in 16-plus minutes scored 10 points to go with five assists, two rebounds and two turnovers. Kuminga battled early foul trouble, but showcased his improved jump shot with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including 4 of 7 beyond the arc. Podziemski handed out a game-high eight assists, also scoring eight points, grabbing four rebounds and two steals.

Aside from the first five minutes and 45 seconds of the first quarter, the starting lineup didn’t share the floor again all game long.

Steph Show Comes To Sac

Even at 36 years old and starting up his 16th season, maybe Curry still gets first-game jitters. Or maybe, he just had an off-day in Honolulu when the all-time great shooter went 2 of 8 from the field and missed all four of his 3-point attempts to open up the preseason. Back in Northern California, Curry found his shot and gave traveling Golden State fans plenty to cheer about.

Curry in the first quarter scored eight points, making all three of his shots, including two 3-pointers.

In the second quarter, Curry scored another five points to give him 13 for the night. Curry went 2 of 4 in the quarter and made one of his three tries behind the 3-point line. In a little under 16 minutes, Curry looked much more like himself than a few days prior.

His minus-7 plus/minus was the lowest of the Warriors’ starting lineup, though. For the second straight game, he and Green did not play in the second half.

3-Point Parade

The Warriors rained down 48 3-pointers in their first preseason game, while connecting on only 11. And Lindy Waters III had five of those.

During Kerr’s pregame media availability I asked the Warriors coach about that high number of threes, and here’s what he had to say: “I don’t necessarily have a number in mind. I want to take a lot of them, and I want them to be good shots. We need to be better in transition. We should get more threes in transition than we have the last couple of years. We’re working hard on that. Our points per possession in transition two years in a row have been 26th, 27th in the league.

“Some of that is turnovers, some of that is we have to do a better job as a coaching staff with our spacing. And then in the half court, yeah, we’d much rather have a three than a mid-range shot. I like good mid-range shots, too. We’re trying to find the balance.”

Letting it fly has been an emphasis from Kerr to his Warriors, and they did so again in Sacramento. This time, to much more success.

By halftime, they had already taken 27 threes and made 15. Along with Curry’s three 3-pointers, Hield made all four of his attempts. Melton made three in the first half, and Green and Kuminga each made a pair as well.

They wound up tallying 52 3-point attempts, making 28, which was good for a 53.8-percent clip. A total of 10 Warriors hit a three, and eight of those players made more than one.

Their 28 3-pointers would have been a franchise record if this were a regular-season game.

Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast