In a thrilling playoff game, the Golden State Warriors managed to narrowly defeat the Sacramento Kings 126-125, levelling the first round series at 2-2. The game was a tense affair, with former Warrior Harrison Barnes missing a game-winning buzzer beater that would have given Sacramento a commanding series lead. Warriors star guard Stephen Curry will have breathed a sigh of relief as Barnes' three-point effort rimmed out.
With only 45 seconds remaining and Golden State up by five, Curry called for a timeout, not realizing that his team was out of timeouts already. This resulted in a technical foul and possession being given back to the Kings. Malik Monk made the free throw for the technical foul, and then Sacramento star De’Aaron Fox hit a three-pointer, narrowing the gap to just one.
Curry then missed his next shot, giving Barnes the chance to win the game, but his shot was just long, sparking jubilant scenes inside the Chase Center. Curry later admitted that he thought calling for a timeout was the smartest play at the time, but it turned out to be an unfortunate sequence.
Despite the win, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr took responsibility for not making the situation clearer to Curry. He said that he should have reminded the team that they were out of timeouts and that he didn't make that clear to them.
Curry led the Warriors in scoring with 32 points, helped by Klay Thompson's 26 and Jordan Poole's 22. At the other end, Fox scored a game-high 38 points, with nine rebounds and five assists, and rookie Keegan Murray scored 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
The Kings still hold a slight advantage as the series returns to Sacramento on Wednesday for Game 5. Golden State has struggled on the road all season, despite boasting one of the best home records in the league. This young Kings team has expertly dealt with the pressure of playing in the franchise's first playoff series in 16 seasons and will be rightly confident they can retake the lead on Wednesday.