Thornton’s career-high 42 lift Kings (AP)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)—Marcus Thornton(notes) and Samuel Dalembert(notes) did their
best to deny the Golden State Warriors another memorable fourth-quarter comeback
in what might have been their last game in Sacramento.

Thornton and Dalembert had career scoring nights with 42 and 27 points and
the Kings jumped out to a big, early lead and held on to beat the Warriors
129-119 Monday night.

“It’s nice to get outscored 35-22 in the fourth and get a win,” coach Paul
Westphal said.

The Kings had blown big leads in the fourth in their first two meetings with
the Warriors, losing both in overtime. They scored 19 straight points early in
this game to take control and expanded the lead to 25 points. Golden State’s
reserves got it down to single digits in the fourth quarter but never really
threatened.

“We learned from our last game against them,” Dalembert said. “They are a
tricky team. They keep going and get tough. Look at what happened at the end. We
were up by 20-something and the game goes down to a seven-point game. It was
tough. We have to understand that teams are so good in this league that when
they are down, you have to keep them down.”

DeMarcus Cousins(notes) added 15 as the Kings had their second-highest scoring game
of the season and shot 57 percent to win for just the second time in their past
nine home games.

Al Thornton(notes) scored 23 points and Stephen Curry(notes) added 19 to lead the
Warriors, who were never in this game a night after beating Minnesota 100-77 in
their most lopsided win of the season.

With the Kings contemplating a move to Anaheim after the season, this could
have been the final meeting between the teams in Sacramento. The teams will
still meet once more in Oakland this season on April 10.

In the 26 seasons that the two franchises have been divided by fewer than
100 miles, they have never both made the playoffs at the same time. While the
proximity has not led to meaningful games between the teams, there has been
passion between the fan bases. A sizable contingent of Warriors fans made the
drive on Interstate 80 for the game and made their presence felt with their
cheers.

The teams even got into it late in the first half when each team was called
for two technical fouls after a run-in between Al Thornton and Dalembert.

“Regardless of the record between these two teams, there’s always a
fantastic show,” Warriors coach Keith Smart said before the game.

It was the Kings that put on the show this night, getting huge offensive
nights from Thornton and Dalembert against the defensively challenged Warriors.
Sacramento made 22 of 28 shots in the paint in the first half and reached the
100-point mark with just over 2 minutes left in the third quarter on a layup by
Dalembert. The Kings led 107-84 after three quarters.

Thornton topped his previous career high of 37 with a 3-pointer early in the
fourth that gave him 38 points and the Kings a 110-92 lead. He is averaging 22.2
points per game in 10 contests since being acquired from New Orleans before the
trade deadline.

“He just needed the opportunity,” Westphal said. “He’s embraced it in a
big way. Our guys have confidence in him and he obviously has confidence. I
don’t think it’s his last 40-point game.”

The Warriors scored 15 straight points late in the game to cut it to nine
but Smart never brought back his regulars. Acie Law(notes) missed a 3-pointer with 1:31
left and Francisco Garcia(notes) iced it with a 3 for Sacramento.

“I just didn’t think there would be a point where they would come back in
and make a difference,” Smart said. “Maybe they could have. I just didn’t see
it right at the moment. Those guys had plated several good games but it just
wasn’t there tonight.”

The Kings used their big run to take a 19-3 lead and led 35-20 after one.
They expanded the lead to 25 points early in the second quarter after a
3-pointer by Thornton.

“We came out with a defensive mentality,” Thornton said. “We came out and
jumped right on them.”

Monta Ellis(notes), the seventh leading scorer in the league, then got his first
points after going scoreless for the first 15-plus minutes. That started a
stretch where the Warriors made 11 of 13 shots to get back into the game. They
trailed 71-59 at the break and it could have been closer. Dorell Wright(notes) scored
just after the buzzer as he tried to go in for an uncontested dunk instead of
shooting before the end of the half.

Notes: Kings G Tyreke Evans(notes), who has missed 14 straight games with an
injured left foot, will visit a doctor Tuesday to see if he will be cleared to
resume practice. … Sacramento G Beno Udrih(notes) returned after missing three games
with the flu.