Warriors 128, Kings 108

OAKLAND, Calif. — The Golden State Warriors welcomed power forward David Lee back into the rotation Monday night while blitzing the Sacramento Kings 128-108 for their eighth consecutive home win.

Lee returned from a 21-game absence due to a hamstring injury to contribute six points and seven rebounds off the bench to the Warriors’ 18th victory in their last 19 games and 10th in their 11 home contests this season.

Shooting guard Klay Thompson led six Warriors in double figures with 25 points in just 27 minutes as Golden State (23-3) improved on its franchise-best start with its sixth consecutive win over Kings.

Thompson hit 10 of his 16 attempts as Golden State shot 53.8 percent as a team.

Backup swingman Justin Holiday poured in a career-best 18 points, center Festus Ezeli had 15 and point guard Stephen Curry, backup forward Andre Iguodala and reserve big man Marreese Speights added 12 apiece for the Warriors, who began their remarkable season with a 95-77 win at Sacramento on opening night.

Curry was the top assist man in the game with 11.

Holiday, Iguodala, Speights and Lee helped the Golden State bench total a season-best 62 points in the rout.

Center DeMarcus Cousins had a team-high 22 points for the Kings (12-16), who fell to 1-3 since replacing Michael Malone with Tyrone Corbin on Dec. 15.

Cousins added eight rebounds, but fell two short of recording what would have been his 11th consecutive double-double. He did also find time for six assists.

Point guard Darren Collison had 17 points, backup forward Omri Casspi 16 and small forward Rudy Gay 13 for the Kings, who were beginning a stretch of five of seven on the road one night after having beaten the Los Angeles Lakers 108-101 in Sacramento.

The Warriors visit the Lakers on Tuesday to tip off a three-day, two-game visit to Los Angeles that includes a Christmas night matchup with the Clippers.

The Warriors never trailed after scoring 17 consecutive points late in the first quarter to turn a one-point deficit into a 34-18 advantage. The Warriors hit three 3-pointers and a three-point play in the runaway.

The lead reached 23 points, 76-53, after a 12-point Warriors flurry early in the third period. And even though the Kings were able to get within 80-69 later in the period, Golden State put the game away by scoring seven of the first eight points of the final period to extend its advantage to 101-77.

NOTES: Warriors PF David Lee played for the first time since aggravating a hamstring injury Nov. 5 against the Los Angeles Clippers. He missed 21 consecutive games. Coach Steve Kerr said he planned to limit Lee to 15 minutes per night in his first few outings. … On how his team would defend Kings C DeMarcus Cousins with Golden State C Andrew Bogut (knee) out of the lineup, Kerr said: “I don’t think we can guard him one-on-one.” … Cousins drew 14 fouls on Warriors players, including four on Bogut, when the teams met on opening night. He shot 12-for-18 from the foul line that night to account for a majority of his 20 points. … Cousins began the day as the only player in the league averaging at least 22 points and 12 rebounds.