By Sam Amick, Anthony Slater and Lauren Merola
After entering the fourth quarter with a 15-point lead, the Sacramento Kings knocked off the Golden State Warriors in convincing fashion, 118-94, in their Play-In matchup Tuesday, setting themselves up to face the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday for the final NBA playoff spot.
With the loss, the Warriors are eliminated from playoff contention.
Keegan Murray had a monster night for the Kings, posting 32 points and eight rebounds. De’Aaron Fox contributed 24 points, and Harrison Barnes and Domantas Sabonis added 17 and 16, respectively.
The Kings went into halftime with a 54-50 lead and three players — Murray (16), Sabonis (10) and Fox (10) — in double digits. Jonathan Kuminga paced the Warriors at the half with 12 points, but Steph Curry, with five points, and Klay Thompson, who was scoreless, struggled offensively.
“If Klay’s not playing great and they’re only up four, Sacramento’s in trouble,” Shaquille O’Neal said at halftime on the TNT broadcast.
Thompson remained scoreless through the final buzzer, and Curry finished with 22 points, four rebounds and two assists: not enough to keep the Warriors’ season alive.
The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Pelicans, 110-106, in the opening game of the Play-In Tournament on Tuesday. They’ll get a rematch with the Denver Nuggets, who ousted the Lakers in four games in the Western Conference finals last year, in the first round.
The Kings get revenge
This wasn’t quite the same as beating the Warriors in an actual playoff series, but it was as close to real revenge as these Kings could possibly get. And after the way their season stalled down the stretch, with Sixth Man of the Year candidate Malik Monk going down with an MCL injury on March 29 and Sacramento dropping seven of its final 11 games to put themselves in this precarious postseason position, it was the kind of unexpected twist that came with far more meaning than your typical Play-In game.
No matter what happens next, the Kings — whose owner, Vivek Ranadive, was a minority owner for the Warriors in those years leading into their dynasty — managed to avoid having their season ended in painful fashion by their Northern California rivals for the second consecutive season. Yet of all the Kings people who surely enjoyed this one, veteran forward Barnes might top the list. The 31-year-old struggled mightily against his old team in their playoff series a year ago, but came up huge with a 29-point performance in which he logged a team-best plus-minus mark of plus-29. — Sam Amick, senior NBA writer
Murray’s best moments
It came as no surprise that Fox (24 points, six assists, two steals) was in fine form. But second-year forward Murray, who averaged just 9.7 points against the Warriors in last year’s playoffs, had the best showing of his young career in finishing with 32 points (8-of-13 from 3-point range) and nine rebounds. His early 3s set the tone in a strong first quarter that the Kings led 31-22, and he stayed sharp until the end. Considering the massive part he’s playing in their program, with the Kings front office remaining hopeful that he’ll evolve into a third star to pair with Fox and Sabonis, it was an important step for the young player. — Amick
The Kings and … defense?
Yep, it’s true. This Kings team that had the league’s third-best defensive rating from March 1 until the end of the season kept that trend going at the perfect time, holding the Warriors to 41.2 percent shooting overall and 31.2 percent from 3-point range (10-of-32) while forcing 16 turnovers.
The Warriors’ 94 points was a season low. — Amick
What went wrong for the Warriors?
They didn’t handle the ball pressure well. Curry turned it over six times. They turned it over 16 as a team. Thompson had the worst shooting night maybe of his career. He missed all 10 of his shots, similar to an elimination Game 6 in Los Angeles a season ago when he went 3-of-19 shooting. Andrew Wiggins was a quiet 4-of-11. The Warriors just didn’t have enough scoring punch next to Curry, who was getting blitzed and doubled all night. — Anthony Slater, Warriors beat writer
Klay Thompson goes 0-of-10 shooting in Sacramento elimination game and exits to an unknown Warriors future. Here he is walking off the court. Largest GSW offseason question is whether he will wear this jersey again. pic.twitter.com/UEhaufsc0W
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) April 17, 2024
What next for Golden State?
Joe Lacob just paid a historic luxury tax bill for the 10th seed in the West, eliminated on April 16. Spending cuts are likely coming. Chris Paul’s $30 million deal is non-guaranteed next season. The Warriors can use that creatively or wipe it off the books entirely. They debated a Wiggins trade back in January and February. Do they revisit? Then there’s the future of Thompson, an unrestricted free agent heading into an unknown summer. The two sides will reconvene on his future, but it is certainly no guarantee he is back. — Slater
Required reading
(Photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
