Monk’s shot and Draymond’s meltdown give Kings wild in-season tournament win over Warriors

Kings coach Mike Brown wasn’t buying the idea of a psychological barrier, but there was good reason to believe his team had achieved a psychological breakthrough late Tuesday night in Sacramento.

The Kings stormed back from a 24-point deficit to defeat their nemesis, beating the Golden State Warriors in an in-season tournament thriller before a national television audience and a sellout crowd of 18,039 at Golden 1 Center. With the win, the Kings won West Group C and secured the No. 2 seed in the knockout stage of the tournament, giving them a home game against the New Orleans Pelicans in Monday’s quarterfinals.

“Man, what a game,” Brown said. “I tell you what, a tale of two halves, and I give our guys a lot of credit. They showed a lot of mental toughness and physical toughness, especially in that second half.”

The Kings were on the brink of another dispiriting loss to their newfound Northern California rivals when Malik Monk threw up their last prayer. With 7.4 seconds remaining, Monk banked in a one-legged stepback jumper over Andrew Wiggins while stumbling into a backwards somersault that took him to halfcourt while the crowd around him erupted.

Kings 124, Warriors 123.

“I was just searching for a little space,” Monk said. “I had a little in and out. (Wiggins) went for it and that gave me the space to get the little floater up — glass, I guess. Go to the bank, man.”

De’Aaron Fox had 29 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and two steals for the Kings (10-6), who can advance to the Final Four in Las Vegas Dec. 7-9 with a win over the Pelicans on Monday.

Monk was limited to eight minutes in the first half after blowing a couple of defensive assignments, but he came up big in the second half, scoring 14 of his 21 points with three 3-pointers in 18 minutes. He scored eight of those points in the fourth quarter and five in the final 37.1 seconds.

After the game, Brown called Monk “the leading candidate” for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award.

“I’m a firm believer that it’s not about who starts the game — it’s who finishes the game,” Brown said. “Malik gives us a huge punch off the bench, and he gives us as a staff a lot of versatility.”

Kevin Huerter had 21 points, nine rebounds and five assists while making 8 of 14 from the field and 4 of 7 from 3-point range for Sacramento. Domantas Sabonis was held to nine points and eight rebounds, but he had 10 assists.

Stephen Curry had 29 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, but he committed five turnovers while going 8 of 20 from the field and 4 of 12 from 3-point range. Wiggins had 29 points and nine rebounds for the Warriors (8-10), who needed to beat the Kings by 12 or more to win West Group C based on point differential.

The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 106-103 earlier Tuesday night, setting up a scenario in which the Kings could advance with a win or a loss by 11 points or less. For 38 minutes, it looked like the Warriors would win in a blowout.

The Kings were down 37-29 at the end of the first quarter. They fell behind by 24 points in the second quarter and went to the locker room trailing 72-55 at the half.

Sacramento came out with more energy at the start of the second half, outscoring Golden State 8-3 in the opening minutes to cut the deficit to 12. They got within 11 on a 3-pointer by Monk, cut the deficit to 10 on a 3-pointer by Fox with 54 seconds remaining in the third quarter and trailed by nine going into the fourth. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.

Momentum was already shifting when Draymond Green — the NBA’s most misbehaved player and Public Enemy No. 1 in Sacramento — had one of his meltdowns early in the fourth quarter. Green pretended to take an elbow to the face from Trey Lyles and fell to the floor, holding his left eye and writhing in pain for several seconds while play continued.

During the next dead ball, Green berated official Mitchell Ervin while video replays inside the arena proved he faked the whole thing. Officials didn’t buy his act and left him lying on the floor while his coaches urged him to get up and join his team at the offensive end.

Green was whistled for a technical foul. Monk made the free throw to cut Golden State’s lead to eight with 9:39 to play. That started a 7-0 run that cut the deficit to two with 7:55 to go.

“That definitely was the momentum we needed from them slipping up right there,” Monk said. “Mike had been telling us to stay with it the whole game and something’s going to happen.”

Monk hit a 3-pointer to make it a one-point game with 37.1 seconds to play. When Green made a bad pass and threw the ball out of bounds on the ensuing possession, he gave the Kings one more chance.

The Kings had to call a timeout when Fox got jammed up with 22.1 seconds to go, but that set the stage for Monk’s go-ahead basket.

“It was an awkward shot,” Fox said. “I’ve seen him make crazy shots going back to high school, so I don’t want to say surprised, but that was a crazy shot that went in, for sure. But with the game he was having, he would probably tell you he was confident in that shot.”

Curry was asked about Green’s antics after the game. He didn’t mince words.

“Be fiery. Be competitive. Be who you are,” Curry said. “But we all have to be mindful of not getting distracted.”

Going into the game, the Kings were 3-9 in their last 12 preseason, regular season and playoff games against the Warriors dating back to April 7. Warriors coach Steve Kerr was asked before the game if he believed his team had a psychological advantage over the Kings.

“That’s a dynamic that definitely exists in sports, and in every sport,” Kerr said. “I don’t know what it means in this particular case. Sacramento’s got a great team. They beat us the first two games of the (playoff) series last year. Do the preseason games count? No. Both of the first two games (this season) were really close. I don’t know. I don’t make anything of it. I just know they’re a really good team and we’ve had great games with them.”

Back in action

Kings guard Keon Ellis was cleared to play after missing the past three games with a left ankle sprain. Ellis had taken Davion Mitchell’s place in the rotation before going down with the injury, but Brown said he would stick with Mitchell on Tuesday.

“It’s good Keon’s coming back,” Brown said. “Davion’s going to get the first crack at it. Keon may play. I don’t know. He’s just got to keep himself ready.”

Mitchell went 0 of 2 from the field with a minus-13 rating in six minutes off the bench before Brown called on Ellis with his team trailing 56-38 with 5:35 to play in the second quarter. Ellis knocked down a 3-pointer and stayed on the floor to finish the first half.

Draymond returns

Green returned to the lineup after serving a five-game suspension for putting Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert in a chokehold.

Green did not play when the Warriors visited the Kings on Oct. 27. This was his first game in Sacramento since these teams met in the first round of the playoffs last season, when Green was given a one-game suspension for stomping on Sabonis’ chest in Game 2. Green was booed loudly during pregame introductions and every time he touched the ball.

Kerr said he would shorten his rotation to nine or 10 players with Green’s return.

“It’s going to tighten things up for sure,” Kerr said. “I’ve said this many times. We’ve got 12 or 13 guys who are all capable of being in the rotation, but realistically we’re going to play nine or 10, so I’ve already talked to the team about it. It’s not going to be easy, but this is how it is. We’ve got to go out there and figure out the best way to win and every night’s going to be a little different.”

Petrusev signs with Olympiacos

Prior to the game, a journalist from Greece asked Brown about Filip Petrusev, who signed with Olympiacos after being waived by Sacramento last week. The Kings have formed a bit of a connection with Olympiacos since signing 2023 EuroLeague MVP Sasha Vezenkov over the summer. Petrusev told European media Vezenkov encouraged him to sign with Olympiacos.

“(Petrusev) wasn’t with us long, but I think you guys are getting a young player who seems like he has a lot of experience,” Brown said. “He played with the Serbian national team. He’s played in a lot of big games. Obviously, he’s had his opportunity in the NBA with a couple of different teams and he has some skill to him. I think he’s going to do really well over there. I’m excited for him. I’m happy for him, happy for Olympiacos. They worked with us when it came to bringing Sasha over and, obviously, they get a pretty good player from us at this point, so I wish nothing but the best for him and Olympiacos on their journey.”

Speaking of Sasha

Vezenkov, who has been out of the rotation recently with the return of Lyles, came off the bench to play 15 minutes, all in the second half. He gave the Kings a big spark, finishing with eight points, three rebounds, two blocked shots and a team-best plus-17 net rating.

“We always talk about being ready, staying ready, and I felt like we had two guys who came off the bench and they were good for us,” Brown said. “The first one was Keon. Keon came off the bench and he had a big 3 for us when we were struggling a little bit, and then he gave Steph a different look. You’re not stopping Steph Curry. You just want to make him work. Eight of 20, you will live with that every night of the week, and you hope you can get a win while living with that, and Keon had a couple of minutes defending him.

“And, obviously, Sasha. Keon was out because he was injured. Sasha was out because he had been out of the rotation a little bit, but he came out and he hit two big 3s for us. Big rebounds. Big block. Maybe even two blocks. Defensively, he impacted the game at a very, very high level, and just being out on the floor, you’ve got to guard him. If you play off him, he’s going to make you pay.”

Up next

The Kings will play the Los Angeles Clippers on the second night of a back-to-back Wednesday at Golden 1 Center.

This will be the first meeting between the teams this season. The Kings went 3-1 against the Clippers last season, including a 176-175 double-overtime win in Los Angeles in the second-highest scoring regular-season game in NBA history.

The Clippers have lost two of their last three after winning three in a row. They are coming off a 113-104 loss to the Denver Nuggets. Paul George is averaging 24.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.9 steals. Kawhi Leonard is averaging 21.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.7 steals. James Harden has appeared in 11 games since the Clippers acquired him in a trade, averaging 14.1 points, 4.6 rebounds and 6.2 assists.

Brandon Boston Jr. (quadriceps) and Mason Plumlee (MCL) have been ruled out for Wednesday’s game.