Getty Sacramento Kings guard Malik Monk guards Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors.
The Golden State Warriors were able to pick up a crucial win in Game 4 to even their first-round series against the Sacramento Kings on Sunday. Though he just watched his team drop two straight games to the Dubs, Kings guard Malik Monk fired off a confident message to reporters after his team’s loss.
“We good man, we good we good. High hopes, still high hopes, heads held high. Everything’s good,” Monk said via Kings on NBC Sports. “We got a lot of confidence man, we still got confidence. Game 5, Game 6, Game 7 if it goes that far. So we’re confident man.”
Malik Monk and the Kings remain confident heading into Game 5 💪
Monk has given the Kings a reliable scoring punch off the bench all series long. The 24-year-old averages 17.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.5 assists in 28.3 minutes per game. He’s been a bit inefficient against the Dubs though, making just 39.2% of his attempts from the floor and 35.0% from beyond the arc.
He and the Kings have good reason to feel confident against the Warriors. So far, the home team has won every game, and two of the final three games will be played in Sacramento. Plus, it’s no secret that the Warriors were terrible on the road this year and have continued to be in this series. They’ve won just 11 of a combined (regular season and playoffs) 44 games away from Chase Center.
Stephen Curry Discusses Near-Disaster After Warriors Beat Kings
Monk’s Kings could’ve been heading back to Sacramento with a 3-1 lead over the Warriors, after Stephen Curry nearly cost the Dubs Game 4. With just 42.4 seconds to play, Curry called a timeout when the Warriors had none left, resulting in a turnover and a technical free throw for the Kings.
Steph was given a technical foul for calling a timeout when the Warriors had none left
Luckily for Curry and the Dubs, the Kings weren’t able to take full advantage of the mishap, as Harrison Barnes missed a good look at a game-winner with time expiring.
The 36-year superstar cleared the air about his decision, telling reporters that he hadn’t realized Golden State lost their final timeout due to a failed coach’s challenge in the fourth quarter.
“I knew we challenged but I didn’t realize when we lost the challenge that we didn’t have any timeouts left,” Curry confessed, via House of Highlights.
Golden State’s baby-faced assassin actually thought he’d made a brilliant decision.
“I ain’t gonna lie — I thought it was the smartest play in the world. When I got the ball, turned around, saw a trap, I realized there were no real outlets,” Curry said of the play. “Instead of turning it over, [calling a timeout] is kind of the heady play but it turned out not to be. I looked over at the bench and everybody was shaking their head…Thankfully, we came away with the win, but good learning lesson on how important all those details are… knowing timeouts, knowing the situation. It was just an unfortunate sequence right there.”
Warriors’ Steve Kerr Takes Blame for Stephen Curry’s Mistake
Curry’s head coach, Steve Kerr, had his back after the game, explaining that he was to blame for the timeout confusion against the Kings.
“As we’re exiting the huddle, that’s on me. I gotta remind the guys we’re out of timeouts,” Kerr said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “I didn’t say that, and so Steph wasn’t aware. so that’s on me for not making that clear. And then on that play we had all four of the other guys running to the other end and they hit Steph in the backcourt, we didn’t have a trail man. We gotta handle the pressure better late game, take care of the ball. The timeout is 100% on me.”