Friday was another day of NBA basketball, with both the Warriors and Kings losing games with major postseason implications.
With both Northern California teams clinching spots in the NBA Play-In Tournament, all eyes will be on where Golden State and Sacramento finish in the Western Conference standings in Sunday's final regular season game, which will lead to a will decide who he will play against. Tournament and its time.
On Friday, the Warriors and Kings both fell in the standings. Golden State lost to the New Orleans Pelicans 114-109 at Chase Center, and Sacramento lost 108-107 to the Phoenix Suns at Golden 1 Center. The Los Angeles Lakers (46-35) defeated the Memphis Grizzlies, moving from 10th to 8th place.
That means the Kings (45-36) are now the No. 9 seed, up from the No. 8 seed before the loss, and the Warriors (45-36) are back from the No. 9 seed to the No. 10 seed.
If the season ended now, the West's play-in slots would look like this (via NBA.com):
The Kings and Warriors will play as the No. 9 and No. 10 seeds, respectively, with the winner advancing to face the Suns-Lakers winner and the loser returning home. From there, either the Kings or Warriors could face the No. 1 seed (currently the Oklahoma City Thunder) in the first round of an NBA playoff series if they win.
The 7-8 game will be played on Tuesday, the 9-10 game will be played on Wednesday, and the 7-8 loser vs. 9-10 winner will be played on Friday, setting up the 2024 NBA Playoffs. It starts on Saturday.
The Warriors and Kings still have a chance to clinch the No. 8 seed in the West, but a play-in game is ruled out as a rematch of last season's epic first-round playoff series, which Golden State won seven times. Can not. Remember.
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