The Kings' season lives on.
Sacramento got its postseason retribution over the Warriors on Tuesday night at Golden 1 Center, earning a 118-94 victory over Golden State in a win-or-go-home game to advance in the NBA Play-In Tournament.
Kings forward Keegan Murray finished the huge win with a game-high 32 points, while point guard De'Aaron Fox scored 24 and big man Domantas Sabonis tallied a 16-point, 12-rebound double-double in the win.
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For the Warriors, veteran guard Klay Thompson struggled from the field and shot just 0 of 10 overall in what could be his final game in a Golden State uniform. Sacramento also contained two-time NBA MVP Steph Curry to just 22 points on the night -- just one year after the Golden State star helped eliminate the Kings with a 50-point performance in Game 7 of last season's opening playoff round.
Now that the Kings have repaid the favor by beating the Warriors and sending them home this season, Sacramento must look ahead to its next play-in opponent: the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Western Conference's No. 8-seeded Los Angeles Lakers defeated the No. 7 Pelicans by a score of 110-106 at Smoothie King Center in a thriller that came down to the wire Tuesday, meaning the Kings, as winners of the 9-10 game with the Warriors, will face the Pelicans in the tournament's next round at 6:30 p.m. PT on Friday in New Orleans.
The winner of the Kings-Pelicans game will advance to the first-round where they will meet the No. 1-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, with that series slated to begin Sunday.
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It isn't necessarily good news for the Kings, however.
Sacramento went 0-5 against New Orleans during the 2023-24 NBA regular season, most recently suffering a 135-123 defeat at the hands of the Pelicans this past Thursday at Golden 1 Center.
Williamson poured in a game-high 40 points in the Pelicans' loss Tuesday, while Lakers stars LeBron James and D'Angelo Russell combined for 44 points. With the win, Los Angeles advances to the 2024 NBA playoffs as the No. 7 seed and will face the No. 2-seeded Denver Nuggets in the opening round.
Now, with their path forward set, the Kings look to beat the Pelicans in New Orleans and advance to the playoffs themselves, where the top-seeded Thunder are waiting.
