Late mistakes send Kings to tough loss

OAKLAND – In the final seconds, the Kings were their own worst enemy.

They committed two crucial turnovers late in a 111-108 loss to the Warriors on Saturday night at Oracle Arena.

Trailing 109-108, the Kings had the ball with 14.3 seconds to play. But guard Isaiah Thomas mishandled his dribble and lost the ball out of bounds with 4.7 seconds remaining.

The Kings then allowed Richard Jefferson to run free on the ensuing inbound play for a dunk with 2.8 seconds left.

Tyreke Evans' desperation three-pointer at the buzzer was short.

"Growing pains," Kings coach Keith Smart said after his team's second consecutive loss. "We've got to go through them. Hopefully, these games will help us as we move forward."

The Kings were also in position to take the lead when Terrence Williams lost the ball out of bounds on a fast break with 15.6 seconds to go.

But after intentionally fouling to force the Warriors to inbound again, the Kings forced a five-second call and gained possession with 14.3 seconds to play.

After being fouled, the Kings did not capitalize because of Thomas' turnover.

Thomas said he was preparing to shoot when he lost control of his dribble.

"I've done that move so many times," Thomas said. "I got the separation I wanted. I knew what I was going to do with it. It just didn't get to my right hand."

For the second straight meeting with Golden State, the Kings came up empty against a short-handed Warriors team.

Golden State guard Nate Robinson was off to a good start with 10 points and eight assists. But he left in the second quarter because of a strained right hamstring.

Robinson's injury left the Warriors without their top two point guards. Stephen Curry was sidelined because of a mild right ankle sprain. That left rookie Charles Jenkins to initiate the offense.

With center Andris Biedrins (strained right groin) unavailable, the Warriors were unable to match up with Kings center DeMarcus Cousins for most of the night. Golden State started rookie Jeremy Tyler at center and also used David Lee and Mickell Gladness, who had been signed to a 10-day contract two days earlier.

Cousins finished with 28 points, two shy of his career high, to go with 18 rebounds. But the Kings were unable to get Cousins going on offense in the fourth quarter. Cousins had two points and took only two shots in the fourth.

"They went to the zone, and that kind of made us reluctant to throw the ball (to Cousins)," Smart said. "He dived in deep into the middle of the zone, and we were reluctant to make that pass over the top."

Smart said the Kings have to get the ball high to Cousins in those situations. Cousins said even against the zone there were opportunities to get the ball.

"I was still taller than the defender. It could've been thrown up top," Cousins said. "But I mean, we couldn't make the plays, but besides that we were still in the game. We've just got to perform down the stretch."

Sacramento (17-31) started slowly. After the Kings scored the game's first two points, the Warriors went on a 14-2 run and led by as many as 13.

The Warriors didn't trail again until 1:03 remained in the third quarter when Cousins gave the Kings an 86-85 lead on a free throw.

• Read more articles by Jason Jones

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