Warriors knock off Kings to continue winding down a bizarro season

A depleted Warriors roster, a Kings team actively trying to lose, and one center from Santa Cruz who made the whole strange evening worth watching.

The end of the NBA’s regular season is a cross between The Twilight Zone and the last few weeks of school before summer vacation. Injuries combined with the proximity of the playoffs and the draft lottery create polar opposite, yet perfectly compatible incentives for competitive and tanking teams alike. When some teams want to win and their opponents want to lose, the drama of basketball is replaced by a breeding ground for strange and unprecedented occurrences. Bam Adebayo scoring 83 points. The Jazz benching non-star players in the fourth quarter for being too impactful. Patrick Williams scoring 20 points on 75% shooting.

For the Warriors, the attrition of 79 games meant they were missing Porzingis, Santos, Richard, Butler, Moody, Horford, Post, Williams, and Cryer. The result was their own basketball oddity: a starting lineup made up of three guards, Draymond Green and the only other healthy forward-sized player on the roster, Malevy Leons, whose wrist is so injured that he was taking free throws with his weak hand last week.

On the opposite bench, the Kings have grounded DeMar DeRozan and Russell Westbrook in an effort to preserve their lottery position, while they were already without Zach LaVine, Keegan Murray, De’Andre Hunter and Domantas Sabonis. At other points this year, the arrival of a tanking team at Chase Center would cause Golden State to let their guard down. But the return and iridescent form of Steph Curry from the jump has given the team a needed morale boost, sense of purpose and focus.

The game on Tuesday night would end up being incredibly close even though the Warriors had the three most talented players (at a minimum) on the court by a lot, but the margin of victory didn’t feel like a lack of sharpness or effort or care on the Dubs’ behalf. Watching the game gave the impression of watching a scrimmage that everyone was taking seriously but felt zero pressure about the outcome because it did not really matter. There were isolated moments of emotion and effort by both teams, but the prevailing sense was that of guys being professional but trying not to get hurt.

The tempered emotions manifested in the home crowd too. Golden 1 Center and Chase Center are usually rowdy for Northern California matchups, but on the Kings’ broadcast at least, the fans were so quiet that it was possible to hear Doug Christie shouting defensive instructions to his players as clearly as if it’d happened in an empty gym.

The atmosphere was compounded by the sheer number of G League, former G League, and two-way players involved in the game. Previous summer league standout for the Warriors, Daeqwon Plowden, started for Sacramento and had a nice game. Half the Warriors who played have spent time in the G League. There were still moments of Stephen Curry magic and Draymond Green dominance (including Steph’s two four-point plays in the second quarter) but the lack of stakes and lack of stars was palpable. When Steph and Seth shared the court, they were clearly hunting a brother-to-brother assist more than they cared about winning or losing.

Things hummed along with a double digit Dubs lead for most of the game until a 15-2 Kings run, fueled by what else — Warriors turnovers — to close the third and open the fourth quarter created a clutch game. But Sacramento clearly had no interest in actually winning, as they only played Malik Monk for 10 minutes, they kept promising young center Maxime Raynaud on the bench down the stretch until Dylan Cardwell fouled out, and they took an inexplicable foul against Seth Curry while in the bonus with under five minutes to go in the game. That foul has proved controversial in the ensuing hours, as people debate if it was a deliberate act of tanking or just incompetence. Either way, while there was technically a chance that the Warriors would blow yet another winnable game to a team trying to lose, the gravity of the Kings’ ineptitude proved insurmountable even in the face of weird lineups, new players and a lack of urgency.

Normally when Steve Kerr plays three or more guards at once it’s because he’s trying to maximize shooting and skill, and he thinks that the offensive benefits should outweigh the defensive and rebounding disadvantages. It often drives Dub Nation crazy because there are other options and not everyone believes in the trade-off Kerr is gambling on. No one can complain about it against the Kings though, because there were only three players taller than 6’4” available to play, and it worked out pretty well.

Even with a depleted roster, Pat Spencer was the only Warrior to register over 30 minutes, and he’d end up with 40. His scoring and typically secure ball handling were on display in the early goings. De’Anthony Melton appears revived by the reappearance of Steph, as he led the team in scoring and his shot looked much better than it has of late. Brandin Podziemski had a great all-around game: he took another charge, grifted for multiple trips to the free throw line, made all his free throws and hit the dagger three. GPII vacuumed in offensive rebounds and sustained his recent scoring binge. All in all, in admittedly ideal circumstances, the Dubs’ glut of guards acquitted themselves well and reaffirmed that they are all NBA-caliber players at the very least.

Amongst that sea of undersized options, new signing from Santa Cruz, center Charles Bassey stood out both in stature and play. Bassey notched a 14-point, 12-rebound double-double in 27 minutes, looked comfortable in the Dubs’ system on both ends and provided a physical element the team hasn’t had in a long time. Paradoxically, as a non-shooting big man, Bassey’s emphasis on rolling hard to the basket seemed to create space for others. He has legitimate vertical gravity due to springy athleticism, long arms and excellent hands, though the sample size is small. He made multiple excellent decisions on the short roll and as a passer in the mid post, which was a pleasant surprise from a player of his archetype. He read the game quickly and decisively, even if a tad procedurally, and was never a drag on the Warriors’ offensive flow. He even displayed nice touch on a floater and had no qualms about shooting when given the chance, a welcome sign of confidence for a Warriors role player.

On defense, Bassey has real heft to his lower half that should allow him to at least battle in the post, but he isn’t plodding by any measure, and he rotated instinctually and fluidly to help against drives. Even more inspiring was a moment where he rotated across the lane to help against a Kings player driving on Draymond, recognized that Dray had contained the threat, and then rotated back to his man. Developing a rapport and trust with Draymond will go incredibly far in earning him more minutes and opportunities going forwards.

He had two blocks and changed a bunch of other shots, though his aggressive pursuit of blocks did sometimes leave him out of position on the glass, a bigger problem with the Warriors’ battalion of guards in this game. He was generally active, kept his hands up and always seemed to know where the ball was, which led to two steals as well.

While the benefits of a center rotation consisting entirely of stretch fives have certainly helped the Warriors offense this season, they’ve lacked the ability to really try something different or counter a bruiser like Alperen Sengun. Trace Jackson-Davis obviously had moments where he looked like his athleticism could be an asset, so it remains to be seen if Bassey is viable long-term or if this was just a nice flash in the pan. But the elements are there of a good player and a good fit on this version of Golden State. With a back-to-back coming up, Bassey will probably get more minutes and a chance to prove he belongs.

These upcoming games for the Warriors don’t mean anything to the standings as they’re locked into the 10th seed, but the chance to integrate Porzingis, Bassey, ramp up Horford, determine the best lineups and prepare for Portland or LA will be more significant than any win or loss, especially in the upside-down NBA of March.