What we learned as Warriors survive late collapse, beat Kings

The Warriors on Sunday night at Chase Center welcomed back Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown with a warm ovation and a sparkling 2022 NBA championship ring. They also sent him home with his third straight loss, thanks to a first-half offensive onslaught that ended in the Warriors’ favor, 130-125, after almost seeing their giant lead vanish. S

The Warriors opened the game a perfect 3-for-3 from the field, scored on their first four possessions and roared out to a 10-0 lead. Once Kings rookie Keegan Murray entered the game, Sacramento settled the score but never took the lead. That was the story of the night.

It’s not like the Kings’ offense was off. The Warriors were just that much better.

But their defense was equally as bad as their opponent. The Warriors went into halftime with an 18-point lead. They were up by as many as 26 points in the third quarter. In the fourth, though, they scored only 17 points to hold on for the win.

Survival is the name of the game. The defense has a ton of work cut out for them, but the Warriors offense once again will be extremely tough to slow down.

Steph Curry led all scorers with 33 points. Andrew Wiggins added 24, as did Jordan Poole, who combined to score only 19 in the first two games.

Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ win that sees them improve to 2-1 on the season.

First-Half Fireworks
Usually scoring 71 points going into halftime is a recipe for success. Not when you allow 89.

There are strong starts, and then there’s what the Warriors did in front of their home crowd.

After dropping 39 points in the first quarter, they rewrote the record books over the next 12 minutes. The Warriors put up 50 points in the second quarter, the franchise record for points in the second quarter. Overall, they went into the half with 89 points already on the scoreboard.

That’s their second-most ever in a first half and third-most ever in any half. The franchise record for points in a half is 92, when they did so in the first half against the Chicago Bulls on Oct. 29, 2018. The Philadelphia Warriors scored 61 points in the second half against the New York Knicks on March 2, 1962.

Their 89 points also are the most the Kings have ever allowed in a half.

Wherever the Warriors let it fly in the first half, the ball was going in. They shot 67.5 percent (31-for-46) from the field and 55.6 percent (10-for-18) on 3-point attempts. The shots kept splashing in what was nothing short of a clinic.

The Steph Show
Sure, everybody had their way with the Kings on Sunday night in San Francisco. None more than Curry.

As the Warriors dropped their 50-burger in the second quarter, Curry took over. He scored 21 points for the quarter, going 6-for-8 from the field and 5-for-6 from long distance. In the first half, Curry made nine of his 13 shots, including going 6-for-7 on threes. Through two quarters, Curry already had 28 points.

Steph made Keegan Murray's knees buckle 👀 pic.twitter.com/MI4vq4XTAU

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) October 24, 2022

Steph has the pump fake workin' pic.twitter.com/SrSWlUMsWy

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) October 24, 2022

Steph is absolutely FEELING IT 🔥 pic.twitter.com/5Zn3lB57Q2

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) October 24, 2022