Kings' turnovers add up to loss to Warriors

OAKLAND – Kings coach Keith Smart said he took responsibility for some things he did Tuesday night at Oracle Arena that led to his team's fifth consecutive loss.

What were those things he won't do again?

"That's between me and myself," Smart said with a smile.

In a game you could say they gave away, the Kings lost to the Warriors 93-90.

The Kings committed a season-high 21 turnovers that led to 21 points for Golden State.

The Kings had 16 turnovers through three quarters. That allowed the Warriors to stay in the game even though they were shooting poorly.

"You turn it over when you have a chance to have a cushion," Smart said. "Then you give the ball back against a team that can make plays from drives or three-point shooting. You can't do that, especially on the road."

The Warriors shot just 40.7 percent (37 of 91) and were outrebounded 53-38. The Kings would take those kind of statistics on most nights, believing they would position themselves for a win.

Instead, the Kings were playing catch-up in the fourth quarter after leading 68-67 through three quarters.

The Kings fell behind by 12 in the fourth but rallied to cut the lead to 91-90 with 2.8 seconds to play on Isaiah Thomas' three-pointer.

After the Warriors' Brandon Rush made two free throws with 2.2 seconds to play, Tyreke Evans' late heave at the buzzer missed.

The Warriors began the fourth on a 9-0 run to lead 76-68. Golden State's reserves led the surge with Rush, Nate Robinson, Ekpe Udoh, Dominic McGuire and Klay Thompson each having his moments during the quarter.

Smart didn't want to burn his timeouts to get his better late-game players back in the game. Thomas and starters Evans and DeMarcus Cousins checked in with 9:47 to play and the Kings trailing 69-68.

But by then the Warriors had taken the momentum with their subs.

"What I usually would do in that case is to see the body language on the floor and see they might need a timeout," Smart said. "But you've got to have at least two to three (timeouts) when you get down to that five-minute mark in the game. And I knew if I burned one or two earlier, I wouldn't have anything to get us to a timeout to draw up a play where Isaiah made two plays for us."

Evans finished with 22 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. He said even with the turnovers, the Kings (6-15) were in position to win.

"We still should have won the game," Evans said. "They didn't even have their starters in, but they made the right passes and made shots."

Cousins finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Jason Thompson added 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Rush led the Warriors with 20 points. David Lee and Dorell Wright scored 15 points apiece, and Robinson had 11 points and five assists.

Golden State (7-12) had a 43-21 advantage in bench points.

It was the second consecutive game the Kings' backups didn't keep pace with their counterparts. In Saturday's loss at Utah, Thomas scored all 13 of the Kings' bench points. The Jazz's reserves scored 45.

• Read more articles by Jason Jones

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