Steinmetz's Instant Replay: Kings hold off Warriors

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Player of the game: Aaron Brooks had 12 points in 20 minutes, but he had two big buckets when the Kings needed them most. Brooks hit a little jumper with 2:50 left and then converted a drive with 1:16 leftand both times they bumped Sacramentos lead to five.Those were the Kings only two field goals in the games final 4:45.Key stretch: The Kings used a 16-0 run in the third quarter to turn a 56-56 tie into a 72-56 lead. DeMarcus Cousins had six points during the run, including the last four. Cousins finished with 23 points and 15 rebounds.Warriors run: The Warriors were down 89-78 with four minutes left, but stormed back and gave themselves a chance to win the game late. After the Warriors forced a Cousins miss late, they found themselves down 93-92 with 10.9 seconds remaining. Golden State ended up getting a great look with five seconds left from Klay Thompson from about 16 feet away. But the ball rimmed out.Couldnt ask for a better look, said Thompson, who finished with 22 points on 7-for-17 from the field. It felt great coming off my hand. I thought it was in but it hit back rim on a direct line and came back out. It was really disappointing. It was really disappointing. Its going to be a long bus ride back, its going to be a long night tonight.After Thompsons miss, the Warriors fouled on the rebound. After James Johnson made one of two free throws, Golden State (2-2) had one last opportunityinbounding at halfcourt with 1.3 seconds left. But the best they could manage was a Stephen Curry 30-footer and it didnt go down.Thats not where the game was lost, David Lee said of the last couple of possessions. The game was lost when the lead went from six or seven up to 16. From that point on you have to play perfect basketball to get back into it and we nearly did that. But it was third quarter and early fourth where we got hurt.Shooting woes: The Warriors came into Mondays game shooting 44 percent from the field through three games. They didnt boost that with their showing against the Kings.Golden State shot just 40.8 percent from the field, and nobody struggled more than Curry, who went 3-for-15 from the field.Thornton a thorn: If theres a player who has given the Warriors a problem or two in the past couple of seasons its Kings shooting guard Marcus Thornton.And he was at it again on Monday, scoring 14 points in just 16 first-half minutes against Golden State. The Warriors contained Thornton in the second half, and he finished with 16.Thornton, who is coming off the bench for Keith Smarts team, had his career-high against the Warriors when he scored 42 points in a victory over the Warriors in Sacramento back in 2010-11.Last season, Thornton put together a 28-point game against the Warriors. The Warriors dont seem to have a great matchup against Thornton, with the possible exception being Jarrett Jack. But Thornton did the majority of his first-half damage with Jack off the floor.Boguts night: Warriors center Andrew Bogut, who didnt play in Saturdays game against the L.A. Clippers, was back in the starting lineup against the Kings.Bogut played the games first five minutes, then sat for the remainder of the halfeven as the Warriors went from being up eight points to down 47-35 late in the second quarter.Bogut had four points and a rebound in those five minutes. Bogut played 19 minutes on the night, including the last seven. He finished with 12 points and three rebounds.I felt OK, Bogut said. Im out there so it is what it is. Im just trying to get through these next three to four weeks relatively sane.The plan for Bogut may actually change some as the Warriors move through November. Originally, the Warriors said Bogut would rest on the second of back-to-back nights, but that could be tweaked, according to Jackson.Its possible that Bogut could sit the first game of a back-to-back and play in the second game. Its possible that could happen this weekendwhen the Warriors play in L.A. against the Lakers on Friday and then back home against the Nuggets on Saturday.

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