Warriors Pound Webber-Less Kings

With Chris Webber sitting back in Sacramento with lower back spasms, the Kings abandoned their inside game and focused on 3-pointers. The strategy worked for just one quarter.

John Starks had a season-high 25 points and Antawn Jamison matched his season-high with 23 as the Golden State Warriors defeated the Webber-less Kings 114-89 Monday night, snapping Sacramento's five-game winning streak.

Webber, who leads the NBA with an average of 13 rebounds per game, skipped the trip and the Kings settled for outside shots. That proved disastrous when they went cold in the second quarter, and Sacramento finished 5-for-19 from 3-point range.

Sacramento was outshot 51 percent to 39 percent and coach Rick Adelman said it was his team's worst performance since a 101-83 season-opening loss at San Antonio.

"We're going to miss him (Webber), but we definitely should have played better than we played," Adelman said. "It's the worst game we've had since the first game of the season."

"You can't use that (Webber's absence) as an excuse. We didn't defend them, we didn't rebound. That's just mental. We didn't play the way we have to play on the road."

Lawrence Funderburke and Predrag Stojakovic had 17 points apiece for Sacramento, which fell into a tie for seventh place in the Western Conference with Minnesota. Seattle is a half-game behind the Kings and Timberwolves.

"Chris is the heart and soul of our team, but that's no excuse for the kind of effort we put out there tonight," said Sacramento guard Jon Barry. "We took a lot of rushed shots, and they got the break. It was simply horrible."

The Warriors were trailing 37-36 midway through the second period when Jamison cored six points to lead a 10-2 Golden State run. After the Kings pulled to 50-46, the Warriors finished the first half with a 17-2 run in which Starks had eight points.

The 67 points scored by Golden State in the first half were the team's most in a half this season.

"Anytime you have an opportunity to run up and down the floor, that's basketball. That's what it's all about," Jamison said. "It's kind of hard to defend us."

The Warriors increased their margin to 24 points early in the third period, but Corliss Williamson had six points as the Kings used a 17-4 run to pull to 80-69 with 3:53 left in the third period. The Warriors led 86-72 at the start of the fourth quarter.

Golden State, which blew a 20-point fourth-quarter lead in a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers last week, never let the Kings get closer than 13 in the final period.

With the victory, the Warriors (20-25) surpassed their victory total for all of last season. Golden State went 19-63 in 1997-98.

Notes: Stojakovic made the first start of his NBA career in place of Webber. ... Jason Caffey missed his second straight game for the Warriors with a strained right Achilles tendon. ... The Kings, now 22-23, were trying to go above .500 for the first time since Feb. 21, when they were 5-4. ... The Kings had a season-high three-game road winning streak snapped. ... The Warriors won for only the fifth time in their last 21 games against Sacramento.

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