The Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings combined for a record-setting 41 three-point shots during a Pacific division game in Sacramento.
The Kings hosted the defending champions and were 8-point home dogs. The Warriors won 127-123 and during the high-scoring affair, the Kings set a franchise record with 21 three-pointers. The marvelous Steph Curry dropped 42 points for the Warriors and the Kings’ Buddy Hield connected on a career-high eight three-point shots.
The game marked the first time in NBA history when both teams scored at least 20 three-pointers.
In February 2018, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves set the previous record with 40 combined 3-pointers in a single game. The Cavs dropped 21 treys that night.
Quick Bounce Back After Harden Burn
The Warriors lost their previous game 135-134 against the surging Houston Rockets. The Warriors could not stop James Harden, who was in the middle of a torrid scoring streak and dropped 44 points against them including a game-winner in overtime.
Great teams follow up a tough loss with a victory and the Warriors headed east to Sacramento with that mentality against their Pacific Division foe.
Steph Curry led all scorers with 42 points and drilled ten three-pointers on 10-for-20 shooting from behind the arc.
“Everybody’s shooting 3s,” said head coach Steve Kerr. “That was just an incredible offensive display by both teams.”
Klay Thompson shrugged off a bad shooting slump in December, but put together another good night in January. Thompson added 20 points with a 3-for-6 clip from three-point range and 8 of 15 overall from the floor.
Backup point guard Quinn Cook scored 10 points in ten minutes of limited action off the bench. He went 3-for-4 from downtown.
Little Kings
The Sacramento Kings are one of the youngest teams in the NBA. They might lack experience, but they can run and gun with the best teams in the NBA. The Kings finished the game with 20 three-pointers on 36 attempts and hit a sizzling 55.6 percent from downtown.
Buddy Hield led the Kings in scoring with 32 points. Hield set a career night with eight three-pointers on 8-for-13 shooting from downtown.
“It was a crazy game,” said rookie Justin Jackson. “It felt every time we went down the court somebody hit a 3. That’s obviously not an every game type of thing, but it shows the types of shooters that both teams have and the ability that both teams have to knock down 3s. It was very good to see a lot of those shots fall for us.”
Justin Jackson came off the bench and finished the game with a career-high 28 points. Jackson notched five treys on 5-for-7 shooting. Shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic added 17 points and three triples for the Kings.
Triple Fad
Kevin Durant scored 29 points and contributed three treys for the Warriors. The all-star doesn’t see this upward trend of three-centric offenses lasting much longer.
“It’s fast. I’d rather play inside the 3-point line, but you got to adapt,” said Durant. “A lot of players have adapted their games and changed how they play. But I don’t see this lasting too much longer. It’s fun for the fans, it’s fun for us at times. But it’s also tough to watch and tough to play against. But hey, that’s what we signed up for.”
“You can’t really play defense in the league today,” forward Draymond Green lamented. “So, I guess that’s what the league wanted, right?”
“At the end of the day, we know in order to win championships you got to get stops,” said Curry. “We did that in the fourth quarter. It’s a fun way to play, especially when you’re shooting a high percentage. You can shoot as many threes as you want to, but shooting a high percentage the way it was tonight on both ends was pretty crazy.”
According to the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas, the Warriors are -150 odds to three-peat as NBA champions. The Kings are one of the longest shots on the board at 1,000-1 to win the NBA championship.
