The Golden State Warriors met up with the Sacramento Kings during the first round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs, and the two provided one of the more memorable series in recent memory. Stephen Curry scored 50 points in a Game 7 on the road to push his Warriors into the second round, but not before Sacramento gave them all they could handle. And as luck would have it, the two will meet again in 2024, this time in a one-game, winner-take-all contest for the right to move on in the Play-In Tournament.
Warriors Will Take On Kings In Play-In Tournament
Here we go again. The stage is set.
Kings vs. Warriors. Tuesday. Win or go home.
Golden 1 Center is going to be a madhouse. pic.twitter.com/R4QZAD0oVa
— Frankie Cartoscelli (@FCartoscelli3) April 14, 2024
The Warriors had a roller coaster of a season, but are heading into the postseason as one of the hottest teams in the league. Since falling to 5 games under .500 at the end of January, Golden State went 27-12 to improve their final record to 46-36, one of the biggest turnarounds that we saw in the final months.
But given how competitive the Western Conference has been all year, Curry and company were unable to move any higher than the 10th and final seed, now needing to win two Play-In games in order to advance to the official playoffs.
One of the teams that they had been trying to pass in the standings was the Kings, who nearly handed the 9th spot with their poor performance down the stretch. On March 25th, Sacramento had a 5.5 game lead over Golden State, and were tied with the Mavericks for the 6th seed.
Kings Faltered Down The Stretch While Warriors Surged
Warriors vs. Kings
Tuesday in Sacramento 🍿 pic.twitter.com/mypgAnBvy5
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) April 14, 2024
But Mike Brown’s team went 3-7 over their next 10 games to create a tie with Steve Kerr’s in the standings, but the Kings were able to win their final game to ensure that they’d be the home team when the two play each other on Tuesday.
The teams are of course different from year to year, but many of the same characters will be around again this season. One big difference will be the unavailability of Kings guard Malik Monk, who played a huge part in what success Sacramento had against Golden State this season. He was the front-runner for the 6th Man of the Year award this season, but had his campaign cut short by an unfortunate knee injury.
The Warriors are listed as 1-point favorites in the early betting lines.
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