Kings 112	@	Warriors 119

January 21, 2011		1	2	3	4	T
	Kings	28	23	23	30	112
	Warriors	27	24	31	22	119
	Net	-1	1	8	-8	7
	Season Avg	-2.9	0.8	-0.4	-0.1	-2.2
	Compare to Season Avg	1.9	0.2	8.4	-7.9	9.2

	Warriors Stats
	FG%	3P%	FT%	FTA	Fouls	OReb	TReb	Assists	Steals	Blocks	Turns	POTurns	PIPaint	FBPoints
Game	51.6%	22.2%	85%	20	26	10	44	21	13	5	19	24	60	30
Season Avg	46.2%	39.2%	76.1%	20.7	22	11.6	40.5	22.5	9	5	14.1	17.5	42.6	18.6
Difference	5.4%	-17%	8.9%	-0.7	4	-1.6	3.5	-1.5	4	0	4.9	5.5	17.4	11.4
	Net Comparison
	FG%	3P%	FT%	FTA	Fouls	OReb	TReb	Assists	Steals	Blocks	Turns	POTurns	PIPaint	FBPoints
Net Game	6.9%	-2.8%	17.4%	-17	-3	-3	-1	-1	2	3	1	1	0	15
Net Season Avg	-0.6%	3.5%	-1.2%	-7	-3.6	-1.2	-4.3	-2.2	0.8	0.7	1.2	2	-2.9	-0.8
Net Difference	7.5%	-6.3%	18.6%	-10	0.6	-1.8	3.3	1.2	1.2	2.3	-0.2	-1	2.9	15.8

Look Familiar? (Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)

For the second time this season, the Kings bail the Warriors out of a demoralizing loss by completely forgetting how to close a game. From 9 points down with about 3 minutes remaining, the Warriors got 3′s from Curry and then Monta, then, after trading a few scores, Monta made his second last minute shot in as many nights, this one to send the game to overtime (where the Warriors quickly pulled away from the deflated visitors).

The Kings opened the door by doing a nice impression of a college team, making only 3 of 6 foul shots in the closing minutes. Still, that distracts from the fact that the Kings were dominating the Warriors from the line until the closing minutes of regulation (it was something like 30-10 in FTA’s at one point, and even with the Kings fouling at the end of overtime they still made it to the line 17 times more than the Warriors).

Monta got the glory — but also an ankle injury, which according to the beat writers isn’t too serious but could still keep him out of tonight’s game against the Clippers — but it was Curry who had perhaps the most important game for the Warriors’ future success. He broke the 30 mark for the first time since December 5 at Oklahoma City, and did so with 8 fewer shot attempts than Monta (providing evidence for Feltbot’s theory that Curry would outscore Monta if he got the same number of shots — will be interesting to see how he plays tonight if Monta sits out with the ankle).

David Lee had a solid double-double, and Dorell Wright came up big on the glass with 12 rebounds to go with his 13 points. Biedrins, on the other hand, did little to respond to Lacob’s implied criticism in some of his recent interviews, with 4 points and 5 rebounds and a team low -14 before he fouled out in only 24 minutes. Yikes.

The bench was fairly quiet in this game, with Gadzuric making the most memorable appearance after Biedrins fouled out near the end of regulation. Gadzuric missed a point blank layup in the closing minute, though he did post a +16 so he wasn’t all bad. Especially if you compare it to Brandon Wright’s -10 in just 3 minutes. If there’s one thing Wright is consistent at, it’s being inconsistent.

So the Warriors avert disaster, and now get a bit of a freebie game tonight in LA against the Clippers (though it would still be nice to win another before San Antonio comes to town on Monday). Their propensity for playing down to their competition is getting a bit concerning, as they are coming off three straight wins that were way closer than they should have been. Still, a win is a win, and the Dubs now have their first 4-game winning streak in three years. They’re back within 4 games of .500, and trail Portland by 4 games in the standings for the 8th and final playoff spot. Can’t complain too much about that, given the recent history of this franchise.

Posted by Mike in Postgame Box Score

Tags: brandan wright, dan gadzuric, david lee, dorell wright, kings, monta ellis, stephen curry, warriors