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SACRAMENTO — For the second consecutive game Sunday, the Warriors lost before the fourth quarter began. A 120-107 loss at Sacramento provided the encore to an embarrassing 28-point home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday.
Most important, it left the Warriors without answers and desperately trying to "stay positive" (the new locker room mantra) despite obvious reasons for panic.
"Another beat-down," swingman Stephen Jackson said after totaling 21 points in 34 minutes. "What can I say? It's just all bad right now."
The opening part of the schedule was supposed to be favorable for the Warriors (1-4). They faced a short-handed Houston squad playing the second of a back-to-back to start the season. They got the Clippers —minus overall No. 1 draft pick Blake Griffin —at home. Then came the Kings, minus leadings scorer Kevin Martin.
Yet, the Warriors (1-4) are reeling. Tonight's home game against Minnesota hardly looks as winnable as it once did, and then the Warriors head out on a five-game road trip that ends at Cleveland and Boston.
In other words, this could get even uglier if the Warriors don't figure out something fast.
"We are doing everything we can," guard Monta Ellis said after finishing with nine points on 4-for-11 shooting and adding five assists and four turnovers. "We are trying our best, but it is just not working for us now. The only thing we can do is keep going and try to get ourselves
The Warriors shot 50.6 percent from the field and still were run out of the gym, because their defense, by all accounts, was atrocious.
Though center Andris Biedrins started, he wasn't healthy and didn't provide his usual production. Biedrins had only two points and six rebounds in 22 minutes and as a result, the Warriors were pounded by a physical, aggressive Kings attack.
The Kings out-rebounded the Warriors by 18 and scored almost three times as many second-chance points (29-10). Sacramento made more free throws (29) than the Warriors attempted (28).
One play at the end of the third quarter summed up the Warriors defense against the Kings — and perhaps the season to date. The Kings were inbounding the ball with four-tenths of a second left to the repeated shouts of, "No lob," coming from the bench, and Donte Greene responded by throwing an inbound lob to Jason Thompson for a dunk at the buzzer.
The Warriors offense wasn't much better, still plagued by the same selfish style that has hobbled it all season. Through three quarters, the Warriors had as many assists (12) as turnovers.
The lack of ball movement led to critical runs by the Kings. The Warriors scored nine points over the final six-plus minutes of the third quarter, and after a layup by Corey Maggette (20 points) cut the Kings' lead to 72-68, the Warriors went 3-for-10 from the field with three turnovers the rest of the quarter. Of the seven misses, six were jumpers and all three resulted from one-on-one play.
Sacramento turned that four-point advantage to a 96-77 lead entering the fourth, capped by the alley-oop to Thompson.
"I thought we gave it our best effort," coach Don Nelson said, "and it wasn't good enough."
WARRIORS 107
