NBA play-in tournament: Warriors’ season ended by Kings as Klay Thompson held scoreless
Keegan Murray scored 32 points, De’Aaron Fox added 24 and the Sacramento Kings stayed alive in the play-in tournament, eliminating the Golden State Warriors with a 118-94 victory on Tuesday night.
Sacramento advanced to play New Orleans on Friday night with a chance to return to the playoffs as the eighth seed in the Western Conference after breaking an NBA-record 16-year playoff drought last season.
The Kings avenged a Game 7 loss at home to Golden State in last year’s first round by playing cleaner and losing balls faster against the aging Warriors in what was one of the most consistent wins for the franchise in two decades.
The loss kept Golden State out of the playoffs for the third time in the past five seasons, including two eliminations in the play-in tournament. The Warriors scored sixteen goals, gave up fifteen offensive rebounds and far too many open three-pointers. They were nothing like the dynastic team that won four titles between 2015 and 2022.
Klay Thompson missed all ten shots from the field and Stephen Curry didn’t get nearly enough help. Curry finished with 22 points, but was chased by Keon Ellis for much of the game.
The undrafted Ellis, who was on a two-way contract until February, added 15 points in addition to his strong defense. Harrison Barnes scored 17 and Domantas Sabonis had 16 points and 12 rebounds for Sacramento.
The meeting between the Northern California rivals, who were less than 100 miles apart, was a rematch of last year’s series won by Golden State. Curry scored 50 points in the seventh game.
The crowd was loud from the start, even if the energy didn’t quite reach the level of last year’s game, when Sacramento fans celebrated the end of a record-long playoff drought.
Murray hit four 3-pointers in the first quarter and the Kings extended their lead to 16 points in the second quarter before the Warriors rallied behind their bench to cut the deficit to 54-50 at halftime.
Golden State got within one early in the third quarter before Sacramento responded with a 19-5 win, thanks to a pair of three-pointers from Ellis, building the lead back to 15 points.
The Kings were never threatened in the fourth quarter, leading to cheers of “Light the beam!” during the last few minutes.
Los Angeles Lakers 110-106 New Orleans Pelicans
LeBron James, Anthony Davis and their supporting cast make the Los Angeles Lakers look tougher in the playoffs than they appeared to be just a few weeks earlier.
The New Orleans Pelicans, meanwhile, find themselves on the brink of elimination and wondering about the health of star power forward Zion Williamson, whose dominant NBA postseason debut was cut short by injury in the final minutes of a close game.
James had 23 points, nine assists and nine rebounds, and the Lakers secured a playoff berth with a 110-106 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans in the Western Conference play-in tournament on Tuesday night.
“Tonight we showed what we were capable of both offensively and defensively,” said James, whose team enters the NBA playoffs having won 12 of 15 games. “We have a good group right now, a good rotation, a good plan and the guys are coming in ready to go.”
Williamson had 40 points and 11 rebounds in his NBA postseason debut. But shortly after tying the game at 95 on a driving layup with 3:19 to go, Williamson went to the locker room and threw a towel on the ground in disgust as he walked into the tunnel with an apparent injury.
After the game, Pelicans coach Willie Green said Williamson had “soreness in his left leg.”
“He’ll get a picture of it tomorrow and we’ll find out more,” Green said.
Shortly after Williamson fouled out, James hit a jumper, Davis dunked Austin Reaves’ alley-oop lob, DeAngelo Russell hit a three and Davis grabbed a crucial offensive rebound before hitting two free throws to help the Lakers hang on.
The Pelicans “threw some big blows at us,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “They kept waving. We kept fighting back.
“It revealed a lot about us and what we are made of,” he added.
Davis finished with 20 points and 15 rebounds. Russell scored 21 and hit five times from deep. James was 10-of-10 on free throws and Davis was 8-of-10.
The Lakers will face defending NBA champion Denver in the first round in a rematch of last season’s Western Conference finals, which the Nuggets won. Game 1 is Saturday night.
The Pelicans will face the winner of the other West play-in game between Golden State and Sacramento on Friday.
“It’s obviously a tough loss for us,” said Green, whose team could have clinched the sixth seed in the NBA playoffs on Sunday but lost at home to the Lakers 124-108, setting up Tuesday night’s rematch in the play -in formed. “We have to feel this one tonight and regroup and get ready for another one.”
Williamson, Green said, was “fantastic.”
“He was in the game. He just kept attacking. He found seams. He rebounded the ball. He played fast,” Green continued. “(If) we have him for a few more minutes, we might have a chance to get this thing out.”
The Lakers shot 14-of-35 from three-point range. The Pelicans went 9 of 29 from deep and Williamson didn’t get much help from the Pelicans’ usual high scorers. Brandon Ingram – in his second game back from a 12-game absence due to a knee injury – missed eight of 12 shots and finished with 11 points after spending the final few minutes on the bench.
“I just love the group that was on the floor at that moment,” Green said. “BI is still coming back, he’s still finding his rhythm. So I didn’t want to force the issue.”
CJ McCollum missed 11 of 15 shots and scored nine.
Trey Murphy III scored 12 and hit two threes from more than 28 feet in the second half to help New Orleans come back and tie the score after trailing by as many as 18 points in the second half.
The Lakers led 75-57 after Rui Hachimura’s layup in the third quarter. But New Orleans got back into the game by outscoring Los Angeles 19-8 over the final 5:31 of the period.
Williamson provided the surge with a pair of layups. Murphy stopped for a 9-yard three-pointer in the final minute of the quarter and Williamson’s free throw made it 83-76 at the end of the period.
The Pelicans finally tied the game when Williamson knocked down Jose Alvarado’s alley-oop lob in transition to tie the score at 93 with 3:53 to go.
Looking to redeem themselves for a lackluster loss to the Lakers on Sunday, the Pelicans put together a promising opening quarter, taking a 34-28 lead on Herb Jones’ three.
Los Angeles took the lead by outscoring New Orleans 34-16 in the second quarter, leading by as much as 14 after James, who had 15 points in the first half, hit two free throws to make it 58-44. to take.
In the final seconds of the half, Williamson sprinted nearly the entire length of the court on the dribble for a floating layup at the horn, making the score 60–50.