As the season winds down, the Sacramento Kings have been playing possibly their best basketball this year. As ill-timed as this run is, it's still good to see. In their final home game of the season, the Kings beat the Warriors with their three-point shooting, something no one saw coming.
Keeping in mind that the season only has one game left, the Kings currently have a record of 22 wins and 59 losses. Their final game is on the road against the Portland Trail Blazers. That means there's only one win or one loss left, though Sacramento probably wants to avoid a 60-loss season.
Yes, this probably isn't the best time to be winning games. According to FanSided's most recent mock draft, the Kings are now likely to choose seventh instead of in the top three. That's thanks to them winning too many games in the bottom part of the season.
These victories are about more than the draft, though. Head coach Doug Christie has spoken about playing to win every time his team is on the court and building that culture now. For once, he's right. What's amazing is how the Kings are getting these wins, as it's happening in unexpected ways.
Sacramento rains threes on Golden State
To be fair, saying the Kings rained threes on the Warriors is a bit of an exaggeration. It sounds impressive, but it's not exactly what happened. That being said, Sacramento did actually outshoot the Warriors from the three-point line, which is nothing to sneer at and a bit surprising.
Golden State took a total of 36 three-point shots, sinking 14 of them. This gave them a three-point percentage of 38.9. On the other hand, Sacramento had 44 three-point attempts. They successfully drained 17 for a three-point percentage of 38.6. That's a difference of 0.3%.
Sure, the Kings' percentage was slightly lower, but that doesn't change the fact that they took more threes and sank more of them. Sacramento was led by Devin Carter, who went six for 11 from beyond the arc, as well as Malik Monk with three of four and Daeqwon Plowden with three of nine.
This is a sign of two things. First, the Warriors aren't exactly the three-point threat they used to be. They got out shot by the Kings, after all. Second, the Kings are getting better from long range. It might represent the slow shift in power between these two Northern California rivals.