Getty De’Aaron Fox of the Sacramento Kings and Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors.
The Golden State Warriors endured a tough season of underdelivering on their expectations. Heading into the playoffs, they were the six seed, and in the first round, they drew the Sacramento Kings. In Game 1 on Saturday night, they faltered.
Sacramento came up big in the final moments of the game, and the Warriors missed a couple of key looks. De’Aaron Fox made a few huge plays for the Kings, and after the game, Golden State superstar Stephen Curry spoke about him, Malik Monk, and Trey Lyles, crediting them for their performances.
“I think for three quarters of the game, maybe a little bit more. Our defense was sound,” Curry said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “We were moving fine all over the floor. Sticking to our game plan. Obviously, D-Fox hit some tough shots. Malik got going off the bench. Trey Lyles hit some big momentum threes. So, those are the kind of game- and the plays that got them back into it. But for the most part, I liked the way that we played. And if we can do that, again, with that level of execution, shore up some of our defensive rotations and looks to try to slow those guys down, I know we can shoot the ball better and rebound the ball better. So, if we can do those things, I like where we’re at, in terms of trying to- we got to win one in this building at least. So, why not Game 2?”
Fox finished the game with 38 points, one rebound, five assists, and three steals on 13-of-27 shooting from the field and 4-of-8 shooting from behind the three-point line.
Meanwhile, Monk dropped 32 points off the bench on 8-of-13 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 shooting from deep. He also added three boards and two assists and went 14-of-14 from the free-throw line.
Lastly, Lyles had 16 points, six rebounds, and one assist off the pine, shooting 6-of-8 overall and 4-of-6 from distance.
De’Aaron Fox Sends Message on Stephen Curry
Meanwhile, after the game, Fox spoke about the difficulties of having to guard Curry.
“Did you all see that clip with JR Smith talking about Delly guarding Steph? That sh— real,” Fox said, laughing, via the Kings’ official YouTube channel. “It’s real. I mean honestly I didn’t guard Steph the entire game, but most of the first quarter, most of the fourth quarter I guarded him. Yeah, that clip is real. Obviously, my team wants me to do things offensively. Mike [Brown] talked about it as soon as he got here, he’s not worried about what I can do offensively. He wants to see me be better defensively. And that’s something I want to take the challenge of doing. I think we’ve all seen it in spurts, but I want to do it throughout the course of a game. Playing 40 minutes and scoring 38 points is cool, but just trying to be as disruptive as possible while guarding the best player to ever shoot a basketball, not just off the catch but off the dribble. Guy’s probably one of the craftiest players to ever touch the ball. Just being able to be try and be disruptive for me is the biggest step and I think that’s kind of something that… I want to prove to myself that I can go out there and just try to hound some of the best guards in the league.”
Steve Kerr Sounds Off on Andrew Wiggins
In addition, head coach Steve Kerr spoke about Andrew Wiggins post-game, as the Warriors forward made his return to the court after over two months of inactivity.
“Wiggs was great,” Kerr said via 95.7 The Game. “So awesome to have him back… First half he was amazing. Second half he wore down a bit but that was expected.”
