Sacramento Kings forward Domantas Sabonis.
The Warriors got rid of Harrison Barnes. Draymond Green stomped on Domantas Sabonis’ chest. Tuesday night, they got revenge.
Sabonis finished with 16 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists in the 118-94 victory, often scoring on his nemesis Green, and outrebounding him by nine boards. Last year, Green was ejected and suspended for a game in the Kings-Warriors first-round series, but thanks to Green and Kevon Looney’s historic rebounding, the Warriors won in seven games.
This year, Sabonis played rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis off the court. Looney committed four fouls in eight minutes. And Sabonis bullied the smaller Green in the post.
While Sabonis got revenge one year later, Barnes had to wait eight years to stick it to his old team. After reaching the playoffs in his first four seasons, winning eight playoff series and a title in 2015, the Warriors jettisoned Barnes to sign Kevin Durant.
According to Green, Barnes blamed him. He invited all his teammates to his wedding except for Green, though you could imagine there are a number of reasons you might not want Draymond Green at a formal celebration. Or an informal one. Barnes was also scapegoated for the Warriors’ loss in the 2016 Finals, even though Green was the one who got suspended.
Barnes went to Dallas, then Sacramento, but never returned to the playoffs until last season. He had a chance to put the Warriors down 3-1 in Game Four, but he missed a game-winner at the buzzer.
This year, Barnes didn’t let the game go down to the wire. He put up 17 points and shot 3-for-4 from three-point range, including a second-quarter shot where he punished Jonathan Kuminga for not running back hard in transition.
If you don’t speak Portuguese, that reads “The Kings are in the mood!”
Barnes has been in the mood to destroy his former team all year. The Kings got to host the play-in game because in the previous meeting with the Warriors, Barnes scored 39 points. In five games against Golden State, he averaged 18.4 points, shooting 57.1 percent from the field and 56.7 percent from three-point range.
Sacramento will face New Orleans Friday for the eight seed and the right to play the Oklahoma City Thunder in round one. Tuesday night felt like they won something just as big.
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