What We Learned as Monk Sabonis is driving Kings’ demolition of Warriors originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – Malik Monk had a great game while taking over much of the point guard duties in place of the injured De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis missed his fifth triple-double of the season and the Kings continued to play well underwhelmed by interim coach Doug Christie Golden State Warriors suffered a thorough 129-99 defeat on their home court on Sunday.

Monk scored 26 points and tied a career high with 12 assists as the Kings stunned the Chase Center crowd with their first win in San Francisco since Jan. 18, 2023.

Sabonis was up to his usual tricks with 22 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists. Kevin Huerter added 16 points off the bench, while DeMar DeRozan scored 12 and Keegan Murray scored 11 points in his comeback after a two-game absence.

Kings rookie Devin Carter joined in and made his first NBA basket. He finished the game with 13 points and seven rebounds.

That’s four straight wins under Christie, Sacramento’s longest winning streak of the season.

It was the first meeting between the two Northern California rivals since the Kings defeated the Warriors in the Western Conference play-in tournament at Golden 1 Center last season.

Winning against the Warriors at Chase Center had to feel special considering it had been almost two years since their last win.

And they did it without Fox, who was sidelined with a bruised buttock he suffered from a hard foul in Friday’s win over the Memphis Grizzlies. It’s the first game this season that Fox has missed.

Sacramento scored 75 points in the first half, led by as many as 33 points and moved the ball as crisply and efficiently as it has all season.

Kings fans definitely appreciated it. As the final minutes of the fourth quarter came to an end, a portion of the fans began chanting “Light the Beam.”

Here are the takeaways from Sunday’s game:

Monk Mania

Monk, a runner-up for the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award last year, was a solid addition to the Kings’ starting lineup in December and took things to a new level against the Warriors.

The Kings’ veteran guard was one of the best players on the court, which is saying something since there were five All-Stars between the two teams. Monk had a double-double at halftime with 16 points and 10 assists. The 10 dimes are the most Monk has had in half his NBA career.

Since starting in Sacramento, Monk has averaged 17.7 points and 5.9 assists.

FI’ll fill in for Fox

It would be difficult to replace Fox with one player, so the Kings went with the combination of Monk and Ellis.

Monk’s great day provided much of the scoring in the Sacramento backcourt. At halftime, he had a double-double and played with defenders while blocking shots.

Ellis held up well, had two steals and picked up an offensive foul that led to a technical against Warriors coach Steve Kerr in the third quarter.

The Kings are optimistic that Fox’s absence will be short-lived, although it has to be encouraging how well the offense performed without him.

FFirst things first

The Kings’ inability to start games smoothly and efficiently has been a major problem this season, but surprisingly wasn’t an issue at Chase Center.

Even without their best scorer and playmaker, the Kings built a 15-point lead in the first quarter and shot more than 58 percent (14 of 24). Sabonis had eight of his points in the first 12 minutes of the game, while Monk and Ellis had seven points each.

As good as the offense looked, the defense was better, limiting the Warriors to 21 points. The Kings forced Golden State into eight turnovers and limited the Dubs to 3 of 11 shots in the first quarter.

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