Warriors, NBA play-in image of Kings entering regular season finals originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area
Another day of NBA basketball has come and gone, and both the Warriors and Kings played games on Friday that had major postseason implications.
With both Northern California teams locked in spots in the NBA Play-In Tournament, the focus is now on where Golden State and Sacramento will finish in the standings when they play their regular season finals on Sunday, thus determining who they will face in the tournament. .
The Warriors and Kings fell in the Western Conference standings on Friday – Golden State later his 114-109 defeat for the New Orleans Pelicans at Chase Center and Sacramento after a 108-107 defeat for the Phoenix Suns at Golden 1 Center. The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Memphis Grizzlies to jump from 10th to 8th place.
As of Friday night, the Kings (45-36) were the No. 9 seed in the West, falling from No. 8 before the loss, and the Warriors (45-36) fell from No. 9 to No. 10. .
If the season ended now, here’s what the West’s play-in bracket would look like: via NBA.com:
The Kings and Warriors would meet as the 9th and 10th seeds, respectively, in the first play-in game, with the winner advancing to face the winner of the Suns-Lakers matchup and the loser going home. From there, the Kings or Warriors would advance to face the No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder in a first-round NBA playoff series.
As for the date of the games, the 7-8 game would be Tuesday, the 9-10 game would be Wednesday and the 7-8 loser vs. 9-10 winner would be Friday, with the 2024 NBA playoffs scheduled. to start next Saturday.
With just one regular-season game remaining for each team this Sunday, the Warriors and Kings still have a chance to clinch eighth place in the West. But there’s no denying that as things stand now, a rematch of last postseason’s epic Warriors-Kings clash would be an unforgettable game.
