NBA playoffs dispatches: Kings beat Warriors on road, force Game 7

FOX Sports writers are providing takeaways from games throughout the NBA playoffs. Here are their thoughts from Friday.

Kings 97, Warriors 86: Golden State needs to dig deep

The Chase Center crowd bore witness to a team that was a blur in transition, played inspired team defense and buried timely 3s. It just wasn’t the home team.

The Sacramento Kings not only beat the Golden State Warriors in their own building, they beat them at their own game — decisively, 118-99 — to extend their season and their first-round series to a seventh game on Sunday.

That collective shiver in the Bay Area came from the very real possibility that the expiration date on the Warriors’ dynasty has arrived. They will find out Sunday when the two teams reconvene in Golden 1 Arena to decide who will advance.

The defending champions, quite frankly, looked old and slow. Their vast advantage in postseason experience was supposed to give them a boost over the Kings; instead, it looked as if the cumulative effect of all those long postseasons had finally hit them. The vaunted core of their four championships were at the heart of the issue. Steph Curry missed free throws (three) and layups (4). Klay Thompson served as a human turnstile on defense (-28). Draymond Green had more fouls (5) than rebounds (4).

Coach Steve Kerr said before the start of the fourth quarter that he was looking for his team to make three consecutive stops “to take back the momentum.” That never happened. Golden State’s offense was whatever the opposite of clutch is, clanking 5 of 7 three-point attempts and 5 of 10 free throws.

The Kings, meanwhile, got virtuoso performances from three of their youngest players. De’Aaron Fox, 25, had 26 points, half of them at the rim as he weaved his way around multiple defenders. Malik Monk came off the bench for 28 points, finding a perfect mix of drives to the basket and three-pointers. Finally, rookie Keegan Murray, 22, had 15 points and 12 rebounds. Coach Mike Brown paid him the ultimate compliment by keeping him on the floor for all except three minutes.

That the Kings were an explosive offensive team, though, isn’t news. They were, after all, the most high-power offense in the regular season. It was their defense that should make Warriors’ fans nervous. They held the Warriors to 37 percent shooting, 31 percent from beyond the arc, and those numbers would’ve been worse if not for Thompson and Curry’s ability to make contested shots.

“We know we can score with anybody and in the postseason our defense has been better,” Fox said. “We’ve got to hang our hat on defense.”

That they did Friday night. Now the question is: Can they hang the Warriors’ crown on it, too?

— Ric Bucher

Ongoing: Lakers, Grizzlies

Ric Bucher is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. He previously wrote for Bleacher Report, ESPN The Magazine and The Washington Post and has written two books, “Rebound,” on NBA forward Brian Grant’s battle with young onset Parkinson’s, and “Yao: A Life In Two Worlds.” He also has a daily podcast, “On The Ball with Ric Bucher.” Follow him on Twitter @RicBucher.