After 12 lead exchanges between the Warriors and Kings, Klay Thompson’s clutch jumper proved to be the difference.

SOUTH FINLAND — Before Wednesday’s tipoff, Warriors coach Steve Kerr stated that this one had all the makings of a “trap game.”

His group had tired eyes. De’Aaron Fox, their standout guard, was absent for their rivals, the Sacramento Kings. With five more games away from Chase Center with travels to Oklahoma City and New Orleans in between, it would be simple to ignore this one-time home game.

Steph Curry had a bad game, but the Warriors overcame all of those things to win 102-101 and secure their first victory in front of their home crowd.

Curry didn’t make his second field goal until six minutes into the second quarter, yet he still finished with a team-high twenty-one points. With less than a minute remaining and trailing1, Curry dribbled over behind his back to make an incredible go-ahead layup.

However, Klay Thompson’s valiant efforts were required to secure the win following Damontas Sabonis’s bank-shot jumper. Thompson’s jump shot from the foul line found the net for the game-winning basket with two tenths of a second remaining on the clock.

It was evident that this was the 13th time that the two Northern California clubs had faced each other since the season’s beginning. Twelve times they switched leads.

Without a dominant performance from Curry (a season-low in scoring and a season-high in turnovers), Golden State managed to stay in the game, never falling behind by more than 11 points thanks to the efforts of their supporting players. Six players scored in double figures, including rookie Dario Saric, who put up his greatest performance as a Warrior with 15 points and a few big 3-pointers.

Before the half, Andrew Wiggins had scored 12 of his season-high 14 points, demonstrating his ability to carry the load.

With a right knee contusion, Jonathan Kuminga was a game-time decision. He scored 12 points, including a 6-point burst in the second quarter when he scored a 3-pointer on one end of the court, stole a pass, ran the length of the court, and made a and-one basket on the fast break.

With a last-second jumper, Thompson scored 14 points, and Draymond Green added 13 points and nine assists.

Curry took just 15 attempts from the field but made seven of them, good for a total 91 points in his previous two games versus the Kings.

But he turned the ball over seven times, which was more than any other player on the squad or for the whole season.

It was the 13th time the Warriors and Kings have faced each other since the beginning of the previous campaign, excluding their two preseason games. In the previous regular season, Golden State won four games to three and went on to win the Western Conference semifinals. This season, they will play twice more: on November 28 in Sacramento, in the first round of the NBA’s new in-season tournament, and on January 25 in San Francisco.

Following the Warriors’ 122-114 victory in their season-opening match last Friday in Sacramento, Curry was questioned about the potential rivalry between the two clubs from Northern California, which are separated by around 90 minutes via Interstate 80. More like a “familiarity,” according to the Golden State player.

A well-defended Curry sent an over-the-shoulder pass midway through the second quarter, anticipating Wiggins to break to the basket. Rather, Wiggins dashed to the 3-point line, where Kevin Huerter easily caught the pass. Curry cast his gaze upwards. It had been one of those nights up until that point.

The Warriors had turned the tables on them after outscoring their first four opponents by 47 points (142-95) in the third quarter, including a 12-point advantage that helped them pull away last Friday. The Warriors, who had a 56-55 lead at the half, scored just 18 points in the 12 minutes that followed the break, which matched their lowest scoring output of the year.

In the meantime, Sacramento scored eight points in the opening minutes of the third quarter. When Keegan Murray finished a 13-2 run with a fadeaway jumper, Sacramento had its largest lead of the game, 69-58. Nevertheless, Golden State answered with a 13-3 run of their own, capped by a second-chance 3-pointer made by Nikola Saric that electrified the 18,064-strong crowd and made Mike Brown call a timeout. Sacric tied the game at 74 by popping and picking at the top of the key and sinking another 3-ball off a pass from Paul.