NBA 2018-19: 3 Talking Points from the Warriors' win over the Kings

Final Score: Warriors defeated Kings 117-116

The Golden State Warriors' four-game skid ended with a win against the Portland Trail Blazers at the Oracle Arena. A night later, the Warriors played hosts to the Sacramento Kings who were on a two-game winning streak.

This was a close game that got decided in the final seconds, and the Warriors barely held off the Kings. Klay Thompson put back his own miss which gave the Warriors the 117-116 lead. Durant was the high-scorer on the night with 44 points. For the Kings, Buddy Hield was the high-scorer with 28 points on 12-for-21 shooting.

The Kings entered the halftime with 64-60 lead, but the Warriors took a two-point lead by the end of three quarters. The Warriors are on a two-game winning streak now and will next host the Orlando Magic at home. Let us take a look at three talking points from the Warriors matchup against the Kings.

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#3 Kings' bench outscored the Warriors' bench, 58-22

The Kings' bench came up big. Credit: Sacramento Kings twitter

The Sacramento Kings' bench was on fire against the Warriors. Marvin Bagley III led the bench-scoring with 20 points on 7-for-15 shooting. He also had 17 rebounds in the game after 34 minutes of action.

Justin Jackson scored 12 points on 4-for-8 shooting and grabbed 4 rebounds. Harry Giles and Bogdanovic too had strong night and combined for 20 points on 7-for-14 shooting. With the starters Fox and others struggling to get it going, the bench came up big and kept the Kings in the game.

While the Kings' bench combined for 58 points, the Warriors only got 22 points from their bench. None of the fringe players scored in double-digits and the Warriors' bench got outscored by the Kings' bench, 58-22.

#2 Quinn Cook's inconsistency

Quinn Cook only had 6 points in the game

Stat line: 6 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and a block on 18.1 % shooting

One thing that will bother the Golden State Warriors is the inconsistency of Quinn Cook. Although he has the ability to score, he has been very unreliable while scoring and Warriors are desperately waiting for Curry to back in the starting line up.

Against the Kings, he only had 6 points in the game and was terrible from the field. He went 2-for-11 from the field, with a very poor field-goal percentage of 18.1. Even though he had 5 assists and a block along with 6 rebounds, the Warriors need him to be a more reliable scoring threat in the absence of Curry.

This performance came after scoring having a great game against the Portland Trail Blazers where he scored 19 points and provided a solid scoring option.

#1 Kevin Durant's season-high 44 points night

Durant led the Warriors to their second straight win. Credit: CBS Sports

Stat line: 44 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 blocks on 50.0 % shooting

After scoring 32 points in the game against the Trail Blazers, a night before, Durant picked where he left off and scored season-high 44 points to lead the Warriors past the Kings. This is Durant's second 40-point game this season.

The 2014 MVP started the proceedings with a huge block from behind on Nemanja Bjelica when the latter went for a layup. With 6:35 left in the first quarter, he made a tough contested mid-range jumper in the defender's face to tie the game, 11-11.

With 9:10 remaining in the second quarter, Durant's turnaround jumper helped extend the Warriors' lead to 3 points. Durant was efficient from the field and finished the night shooting 13-for-26. He also went 16-for-17 from the free-throw line. The 9-time All-Star also had 13 rebounds on the night to go along with 7 rebounds for a double-double.