SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Kings coach Mike Brown projected Game 2 would be a “dog fight” after Sacramento stole the series opener.
And he was right.
The Warriors' fourth-quarter rally came up short as the Kings beat Golden State 114-106 to take a 2-0 series lead and light the bright purple beam into the night sky for the second time in two days.
The Warriors held the Kings to 17 points in the opening quarter but lost the final three quarters. They also had to play most of the fourth without Draymond Green, who was ejected after getting entangled with Domantas Sabonis.
With the Kings up by four in the fourth quarter, Sebonis pulled on Green’s leg, which prompted the Warriors' fiery star to stomp on the Sacramento big’s rib cage. Sebonis laid on the court for several minutes while the officials went to review the sequence.
Meanwhile, the home crowd roared. Green egged the fans on, at one point stepping on the Warriors bench and yelling back at them.
Green was ultimately slapped with a Flagrant 2 and ejected with 7:03 left in regulation. And Sebonis was assessed a technical foul.
The Warriors would tie the game twice, but never take the lead. De’Aaron Fox would score 11 of his 24 points in the final stanza.
The now Warriors find themselves in unfamiliar territory.
Golden State has been down in the playoffs before but never has the team fallen down 2-0 in any of its 27 series with Stephen Curry, Green and Klay Thompson leading the charge.
But then again, nothing about this season has come easy for this Warriors team. And the squad that won only 11 of its 41 road games this season failed to pick up a victory in either of its first two tries in Sacramento, with the first-round series heading back to San Francisco later this week.
