Game Preview: Warriors vs. Kings – 11/1/23

HOSTING A FAMILIAR FOE
After a perfect 3-0 road trip, the Warriors make a pit stop back at Chase Center, hosting the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday before four more road games. The Dubs faced the Kings to tip off their recently completed road trip, defeating them in Sacramento 122-114 last Friday. Stephen Curry scored a game-high 41 points in that game, including 22 in the fourth quarter.

LAST TIME OUT
Curry became the first player in the league to record multiple 40-point games this season, scoring 42 points on 68.2 percent shooting and 53.8 percent from three in a 130-102 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday. Both rookies — Trayce Jackson Davis and Brandin Podziemski — scored their first NBA baskets and Moses Moody stepped in for Klay Thompson — sidelined with right knee soreness — scoring in double-digits for the eighth time in 15 career starts (13 points on 5-for-8 shooting). » Full Game Recap

PREVIOUS GAME STARTERS
GSW: Stephen Curry, Moses Moody, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green and Kevon Looney
NOP: De’Aaron Fox, Kevin Huerter, Harrison Barnes, Keegan Murray, Domantas Sabonis

INJURY & ROSTER NOTES
GSW: Klay Thompson (right knee soreness) and Dario Saric (right hip contusion) are probable. Jonathan Kuminga (left knee contusion) is questionable. Team Notes
SAC: De’Aaron Fox (right ankle sprain) and Trey Lyles (left calf strain) are out. Team Notes

JACKSON-DAVIS MODELS GAME AFTER GREEN AND SABONIS
Last season, Draymond Green and Domantas Sabonis went head-to-head in the first round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs. Green, selected to his franchise-record eighth career All-Defensive team in 2022-23, was the primary defender on Sabonis, an All-NBA big man and the NBA’s leading rebounder. Warriors rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis, who made his NBA debut against the Kings last Friday — a plus-seven in four minutes of action — told NBC Sports Bay Area that Green and Sabonis are the players he models his game after. 

Like Jackson-Davis, Green and Sabonis are versatile bigs who can play either the power forward or center position and are playmakers in the open court and on the block. While attending the University of Indiana, Jackson-Davis had the opportunity to get a closer look at Sabonis’ intricacies that make his game unique compared to most NBA bigs, as the All-NBA center played four and a half seasons with the Pacers before being acquired by the Kings.

In his second NBA game and first time receiving double-digit minutes against the Pelicans on Monday, the rookie thrived, scoring 13 points, grabbing nine rebounds and blocking four shots in 19 minutes.

SACRAMENTO SCOUTING REPORT
The Kings have played once since their loss to the Warriors last Friday, beating the Lakers in an overtime thriller 132-127 on Sunday. De’Aaron Fox, the NBA’s reigning Clutch Player of the Year, lived up to that title, scoring 13 points in the fourth quarter to help push the game into overtime. He had eight of those points after sustaining an ankle injury that he pushed through despite moving gingerly on. Malik Monk carried the torch in overtime, scoring 11 of his 22 points against his former team to seal the game.

With Fox’s status potentially in question, the Kings may have to rely on Sabonis and Monk more offensively in addition to their wings — Harrison Barnes, Keegan Murray and Kevin Huerter. Sabonis had a 19-point 18-rebound double-double in Friday’s game against the Dubs, but Monk and Barnes were limited to just 19 points combined and Murray and Huerter shot a combined 3-for-16 from three.