Klay Thompson hits game-winning shot in final second to help Warriors beat Kings — again

Klay Thompson made a go-ahead jumper in the final second to give the Golden State Warriors another wild win in their budding Northern California rivalry against the Kings.

Stephen Curry scored 21 points and Thompson plunged a dagger into the hearts of the Kings, leading the Warriors to a 102-101 victory before a sellout crowd of 18,064 at Chase Center in San Francisco.

The Kings blitzed Curry to get the ball out of his hands and Davion Mitchell did all he could to contest Thompson’s shot, but he buried it from the top of the key with two-tenths of a second remaining.

“I can’t do no better than that,” Mitchell said. “I ain’t tall enough to block it. I just tried my hardest, but he got to his spot. He’s one of the greatest for a reason.”

Warriors coach Steve Kerr has seen Thompson come through in clutch situations many times to help the Warriors win four NBA championships over the past nine seasons.

“He’s obviously made a million big shots for us over the years,” Kerr said. “But hitting one with .2 left when you’re down, that’s a thrill for anybody no matter how many times you’ve done it before.”

The Kings have now played 12 of their last 18 preseason, regular season and playoff games against the Warriors dating back to last season. The Kings are 3-9 in those games, including a seven-game series loss to the Warriors in the first round of the playoffs last season.

“They’ve got our numbers,” Kings guard Malik Monk said. “... It’s not like we’re losing by 30. We’re right there every time, so there’s a few mistakes we’ve got to clean up, and I think we’ll do it.”

Domantas Sabonis posted another double-double for the Kings, finishing with 21 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. Sabonis recorded his fourth consecutive game with at least 10 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. He joined Oscar Robertson as the only players in franchise history to post 10-10-5 in the first four games of a season. He also became the fifth player in franchise history to record a double-double in the first four games of the season, joining Robertson, Jerry Lucas, Sam Lacey and Chris Webber.

Sabonis said the Kings are learning a lot from these matchups with the Warriors.

“They’re a dynasty,” he said. “They’ve won four rings, and the more we can pick up from them and use it for ourselves and be ready for next time.”

Sabonis was asked about Thompson’s game-winning shot after the game.

“It’s a tough play when you have Steph on the court,” Sabonis said. “You know our goal — our coaches were yelling at us to hit Steph, which means get the ball out of his hands and make someone else make a play. ... (Thompson) hit a good shot. Davion was there and Klay just shot the ball and knocked it down.”

Monk came off the bench to score 16 points for the Kings (2-2), who were missing All-NBA point guard De’Aaron Fox. Harrison Barnes added 14 points. Mitchell, starting in place of the injured Fox, had 13 points, three rebounds and four assists. He went 5 of 9 from the field and 3 of 6 from 3-point range.

Kevin Huerter had 11 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Keegan Murray was held to 10 points after going 4 of 15 from the field and 0 of 7 from 3-point range, but Kings coach Mike Brown praised him for his defense against Curry.

Dario Saric had 15 points and six rebounds for the Warriors (4-1). Andrew Wiggins and Thompson scored 14 points apiece.

“Guys played hard,” Brown said. “They put us in a position to win and Klay Thompson hit a big shot. That’s what Hall of Famers do, so you give them credit and try to get ready for the next game.”

The Warriors outscored the Kings 12-3 over the first 2:09 after Draymond Green, of all people, started the game with two 3-pointers. The Kings came back to take their first lead of the game when Monk made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to put them up 31-28 at the end of the first quarter.

Sacramento went up by six on a transition layup by Huerter midway through the second quarter. Golden State reclaimed the lead on a basket by Wiggins and carried a 56-55 advantage into the halftime break.

The Kings started the second half with a 14-2 run to take a 69-58 lead on a basket by Murray. The Warriors responded with a 13-3 run, battling back to cut the deficit to five at the end of the third quarter.

There were five ties and seven lead changes in the fourth quarter. The Warriors went up 90-89 on a 3-pointer by Curry. The Kings reclaimed the lead on two free throws by Barnes with 2:53 remaining.

The Kings went ahead 101-100 on a 21-foot bank shot by Sabonis with 15.1 seconds remaining, but that set the stage for Thompson’s heroics.

“I thought we blitzed Steph, got the ball out of his hands, tried to do a good job, tried to take everyone else away, and ultimately, he just hit a tough shot over Davion,” Barnes said. “... There are a lot of positives, but at the end of the day you’ve got to come out with the win. There’s not really moral victories. Obviously, we’ve seen this team like 20 times from the end of last season until now, so for us it’s a matter of getting over the hump.”

In-Season Tournament

Brown said he hasn’t begun to look ahead to the NBA’s new In-Season Tournament. Some teams will play their first tournament games on Friday, but the Kings won’t open group play in West Group C until they host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Nov. 10 at Golden 1 Center.

“We’re not looking ahead to it,” Brown said. “We’re excited about it and I’m excited to see it unfold, but we’re worried about the Warriors tonight. ... We’re just trying to get better, and when we play, hopefully we’ll play at our best because it would be awesome to win a cup.”

The Warriors, who are paired with the Kings in West Group C, will play their first group stage game Friday in Oklahoma City.

“I wasn’t going to make a big deal about it, but then they told us the coaching staff gets a big bonus if we win it, so Steph’s going 48 (minutes) and we’re locked in,” Kerr joked.

Rookie report

With Fox out of the lineup, rookie second-round draft pick Colby Jones got his first opportunity to play extended minutes after logging one minute in his NBA debut against the Utah Jazz in the season opener.

Jones came off the bench to score 10 points with two assists, one steal and zero turnovers in 15 minutes. He made 4 of 8 field-goal attempts and 2 of 5 from 3-point range.

“I thought he was OK for a rookie,” Brown said. “He didn’t seem afraid or anything like that and tried to run the team. Obviously, a tough opponent for that to be your first game, but I thought he was solid.”

Up next

The Kings will travel to Texas for a two-game set against the Houston Rockets on Saturday and Monday. The Rockets went 0-3 to start the season before earning their first win with a 128-119 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday.