The Kings season continues.
Sacramento got its postseason revenge against the Warriors on Tuesday night at Golden 1 Center, defeating Golden State 118-94 in a win-or-go-home game and clinching a spot in the NBA Play-In Tournament.
Kings forward Keegan Murray scored a game-high 32 points in the big win, point guard De'Aaron Fox scored 24 points, and big man Domantas Sabonis recorded a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds in the victory. Contributed.
Warriors veteran guard Klay Thompson struggled from the field in what could be his final game in a Golden State uniform, shooting just 0-of-10 overall. Sacramento also held two-time NBA MVP Stephen Curry to just 22 points on the night. It was exactly one year after the Golden State star helped the Kings eliminate the Tigers with a 50-point performance in Game 7 of last season's playoff opener.
The Kings returned the favor by defeating the Warriors and sending them home this season, so Sacramento must look to their next play-in opponent, the New Orleans Pelicans.
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Lakers, the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference, defeated the No. 7 Pelicans by a score of 110-106 at Smoothie King Center. This means that the Kings won with 9 wins and 10 losses. The Warriors will play the Pelicans in the next round of the tournament in New Orleans on Friday at 6:30 p.m. PT.
The winner of the Kings-Pelicans game advances to the first round to face the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, with that series scheduled to begin Sunday.
But that's not necessarily good news for the Kings.
Sacramento is 0-5 against New Orleans in the 2023-24 NBA regular season, most recently losing 135-123 to the Pelicans at Golden 1 Center last Thursday.
Williamson scored a game-high 40 points against the Pelicans on Tuesday, while Lakers stars LeBron James and D'Angelo Russell combined for 44 points. With this win, Los Angeles will advance to the 2024 NBA Playoffs as the seventh seed and will face the second-seeded Denver Nuggets in the opening game.
Now that their path is set, the Kings aim to defeat the Pelicans in New Orleans and advance to the playoffs, where the top-seeded Thunder await.
