The Sacramento Kings‘ first playoff game was as loud as expected. Then it got louder.
In their first playoff game since 2006, the Kings defeated the Golden State Warriors 126-123 in Game 1 to take an early advantage in the first-round series between the NBA’s defending champions and high-flying upstarts.
De’Aaron Fox didn’t need much time to acclimate to the playoffs in his first career appearance, going off for 38 points, five assists and three steals.
The energy was palpable in the Golden 1 Center before tip-off. Not only were the Kings facing the NBA’s most dominant team of the last decade, they were facing their closest rival. It was personal, and you could hear it from the nosebleeds.
The first two and a half quarters went the way Sacramento fans probably feared. The Kings showed the kind of attack that got them the third seed in the Western Conference and the highest offensive efficiency in the NBA, but the Warriors didn’t seem to facing anything they hadn’t seen before.
After a close first half, the Warriors took a double-digit lead in the third quarter and had their feared shooters operational. Stephen Curry finished with 30 points, while Klay Thompson had 21 points, six rebounds and five assists.
The Kings found their life later in the third, erasing a 10-point lead in the final three minutes to enter the fourth quarter tied. The fourth became an all-out war, with Curry and Fox exchanging haymakers.
A pair of Malik Monk free throws finally put the Kings up three points with 2.9 seconds left, then a game-tying attempt from Curry just missed.
A few minutes later, the beam was lit.
Game 2 is scheduled for Monday at 7 p.m. PT in Sacramento. With all that has been made of the Warriors’ struggles on the road, that game is suddenly looking very dangerous for the defending champs.
