Kings ensure Warriors will miss playoffs for third time in five seasons
Keegan Murray sank eight 3-pointers and finished with 32 points and nine rebounds as the Sacramento Kings remained alive in the NBA playoffs with a convincing 118-94 victory over the visiting Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night.
De’Aaron Fox added 24 points for ninth-place Sacramento, which controlled the 9 vs. 10 play-in game. The Pelicans will visit the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday, with the winner receiving the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference playoffs and a matchup with the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.
Stephen Curry scored 22 points for the Warriors, who came in 10th in the West and will miss the playoffs for the third time in five seasons. Curry committed six turnovers and his longtime Splash Brother teammate, Klay Thompson, had a forgettable contest by missing all 10 of his shots while going scoreless.
“Tonight was tough to see him struggle,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of Thompson. “But as I told the guys in there, it’s all part of being an athlete and being an NBA player. There are incredible highs and really tough lows, and this was a tough one for Klay and the whole team.
“We didn’t play very well and it hurts.”
Curry added, “It’s definitely frustrating and disappointing to say the least. But you hold your head high knowing that there’s a lot more in the tank. For me personally, that’s the mindset.”
Reserves Moses Moody and Jonathan Kuminga each put up 16 points for the Warriors. Golden State’s Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins scored 12 apiece.
The victory was a dose of payback for the Kings, who blew a 2-0 lead in a first-round playoff series against Golden State last season as the Warriors won four of the last five games.
“I think it’s great. Getting over that hump is one thing that we talked about,” Fox said of beating the Warriors.
“The way the season played out and some of the games that we lost and of course, we end up running into Golden State.
“But we got another game to go to get into the playoffs.”
Harrison Barnes scored 17 points and Domantas Sabonis had 16 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists for the Kings. Keon Ellis added 15 points, five assists, three steals and three blocked shots for Sacramento, which shot 43.9% from the field, including 18 of 39 (46.2%) from 3point range.
The Warriors connected on 41.2% of their field goal attempts and were 10 of 32 (31.2%) from behind the arc.
Sabonis scored four consecutive points and Barnes followed with a jumper to give the Kings a 97-78 advantage with 9:35 left in the game.
Golden State crept within 13, but Murray and Barnes drained 3-pointers to push the lead to 105-86 with 6:09 remaining. Barnes added four free throws to make the margin 23 with 4:39 to play.
Murray drilled his eighth trey to make it 116-90 with 2:15 left as the Kings closed it out.
Murray scored 14 of his 16 first-half points in the opening quarter, and Sacramento led 31-22 after 12 minutes.
“I felt like I’ve had a lot of good games and this is the second time when our backs have been against the wall at the end of the year,” Murray said when asked if this was his best game as a pro. “You could call it that but I think it was a really good game by a lot of guys on our team.”
The Kings were up by 16 early in the second quarter before Golden State pulled within 54-50 entering the break. Kuminga scored 12 in the half for the Warriors.
Sacramento used a 21-7 burst during the third quarter to stretch its lead to 7762 on Fox’s trey with 5:39 remaining in the period. The Warriors pulled within 81-71 on Moody’s basket with 3:53 left before the Kings took a 91-76 lead into the final stanza.