Warriors vs. Kings preview: Golden State’s interior defense will be put to the test

So far, the Golden State Warriors’ preseason has been a reunion tour for the team’s gold medal Olympians, first facing off against Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan of the Toronto Raptors, followed by DeAndre Jordan of the Los Angeles Clippers.

Their third preseason game will be no different as DeMarcus Cousins and the Sacramento Kings come to town. The Kings are 0-1 in their preseason after blowing a 19 point lead against the Los Angeles Lakers in their preseason opener. Despite the loss, Cousins put up 11 points with 6 rebounds and 4 assists in just 15 minutes of action.

The Kings’ roster and lineups are very much up in the air with the offseason additions of free agents, Arron Afflalo, Matt Barnes, and Garrett Temple; rookie draft picks, Georgios Papagiannis and Skal Labissiere; and roster hopefuls, Jordan Farmar and Ty Lawson. Add the trade rumors surrounding Rudy Gay and Ben McLemore and it’s possible that the Warriors will face a very different squad in the regular season than the one they play Thursday night.

The departure of Rajon Rondo puts Darren Collison back in the Kings’ starting lineup, but Collison will be serving an eight game suspension at the start of the regular season after pleading guilty to one count of misdemeanor domestic battery last month. The suspension won’t affect any regular season games against the Warriors as these teams won’t see each other again until January.

The Warriors have dominated the match-up the past few years; their last loss to the Kings was on March 27, 2013. But Cousins is one of the best post players in the league and will serve as a real challenge to the Warriors.

Much has been made of how the departure of Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli would affect the Warriors’ interior defense. Tonight will be our first look at what the Warriors can do against a premiere back-to-the-basket scorer. It will be important for the Warriors to not only contain Cousins, but also to corral defensive rebounds.

Hopefully the Warriors can build on their success from their last game and keep it rolling against a disjointed Kings team.

When: Thursday, October 6 at 7:30 p.m. Pacific time

Where: SAP Center — San Jose, CA

Coverage: 95.7 FM (No national television coverage)