Kevin Huerter and the Sacramento Kings had a golden opportunity to pile on the Golden State Warriors' misery on Monday night, especially after they entered the fourth quarter with a nine-point advantage. However, Stephen Curry had other ideas, carrying the defending champions on his back with a season-high 47 points fueled by seven three-pointers. With the game tied at 107 with less than a minute and a half left in the game, it was Curry who nailed the go-ahead stepback triple to give the Warriors a lead they wouldn't relinquish.
However, at the end, the Kings still had an opportunity to send the game to overtime, and they were not lacking for options as to who could take the potential tying shot. And the Kings chose Kevin Huerter, their offseason addition from the Atlanta Hawks, to take the three – a smart choice, given that he was 3-5 from deep at that point in the game, and has shot 52 percent from beyond the arc on the season.
The Warriors definitely paid attention to the scouting report and gave Huerter no room to breathe, as Klay Thompson closed down his airspace rather quickly. However, it appears as if Thompson fouled him in the process – multiple times in fact – as Thompson appeared to put his left hand on Huerter's hip, hit Huerter's arm as he heaved up a prayer from 34-feet, and gave him no room to land. But the officials didn't think so, and the buzzer sounded with the Warriors coming out as victors.
And surely enough, Kevin Huerter was irate at the officials right after the buzzer sounded, and his frustrations continued deep into the night as he called out the erring referees on his official Twitter account.
“Only thing we can do at this point is get fined. Zero accountability,” Huerter wrote.
It's not difficult to understand why the Kings' frustrations are boiling over. They lost to the Miami Heat last week on a Tyler Herro game-winning triple, but not before a travel was left uncalled on the move that gave the Heat guard space to launch the shot. The last two-minute report that came out after the game confirmed that Herro indeed traveled, confirming head coach Mike Brown's gripes after the game.
Still, Kevin Huerter and the rest of the Kings will need to refocus even if they find their wallets to be a wee bit lighter in the coming days. The Kings have had a difficult schedule to begin the year, so a 3-6 start isn't the end of the world, but for them to snap the longest playoff drought in North American sports, they will need to turn things around quickly.
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