SACRAMENTO — Even without Steph Curry and Chris Paul, and playing in a game that means nothing in the standings, the Warriors and Sacramento Kings played some entertaining preseason basketball at the Golden 1 Center on Sunday night.
The Warriors overcame a 15-point deficit in the third quarter to force overtime, then knocked off the Kings with a 121-115 victory to move to 3-0 in the preseason.
Still, there’s little doubt that the Kings have something to prove after the Warriors eliminated them from the postseason in April.
It was here at the Golden 1 Center that the Warriors won a crucial Game 5 in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, then laid an egg in Game 6 at home before going back to Sacramento and watching Curry score 50 points on their way to a series win.
The Kings are back this season with a similar look, and the Domantas Sabonis-Da’Aaron Fox combination was on full display again on Sunday night in the Kings’ first home game since their postseason elimination.
Fox, who is coming off an All-Star season in which he was also named the NBA Clutch Player of the Year, looked like the fastest player on the floor as he scored 17 points with five rebounds and six assists in 26 minutes.
Sabonis scored 19 while hauling in 11 rebounds. He also went 2-for-2 from 3-point range when the Warriors gave him plenty of space to shoot behind the arc.
The Warriors offered a different look on Sunday, going with rookie Brandon Podziemski at point guard.
The takeaways:
1. Podziemski gets moving
It was right after Brandin Podziemski set his third screen of a first-quarter possession that he slipped his defender and got loose on the perimeter.
As soon as the ball found him, he dribbled past Trey Lyles, turned inside, drew three defenders, pump-faked, then ducked underneath Lyles and went to the hoop for an easy underhand bucket.
While Podziemski is clearly still finding his way in the Warriors offense, he’s already made one thing clear about his game: he never stops moving.
Sunday, the rookie from Santa Clara University offered some glimpses of what made him the No. 19 overall pick in June.
And a handful of rookie mistakes, too.
With a battery that seemed to never run out, Podziemski was constantly in motion. Early in the first quarter, he crashed the boards to win a defensive rebound that led directly to a Klay Thompson bucket. The next defensive possession, he did it again, this time fighting off the 7-foot-1 Domantas Sabonis on a rebound to induce a turnover.
When he finally came out of the game after his first six minutes, he had already dished out three assists and hauled in three rebounds.
But as active as he was, there was still a sense that something was missing as he ran the point: scoring ability. He often failed to create enough separation to give himself clean looks. He appeared more interested in finding open shooters than taking chances himself, a selfless approach that his teammates ought to appreciate. When he did shoot, he struggled, going 1-for-5 from the field and 0-for-1 from 3-point range, though he went 2-for-2 from the free-throw line.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr has been both impressed by Podziemski and open-minded about how he’ll fit into this team, and it seems like it’ll take more than three preseason games for him to figure that out.
Podziemski’s stats through three games: 81 minutes, 23 points, 17 rebounds, 18 assists and only three turnovers.
2. Jonathan Kuminga shines again
Kuminga continues to be a focal point of the Warriors’ offense in the preseason, though Sunday he made his biggest impact at the free-throw line.
Unafraid to make physical drives to the basket, Kuminga ended up taking 17 free-throw attempts, draining 13 of them.
Kuminga, who entered Sunday leading the NBA while averaging 25 points through two preseason games, finished with 28 points, six rebounds, one assist and one steal.
3. Andrew Wiggins makes an impact
Wiggins scored just 15 points in his first two preseason games combined, but submitted a 20-point performance in 22 minutes on Sunday.