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 at New Orleans on Friday night with a chance to return to the playoffs as the eighth seed in the Western Conference after snapping 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 being quicker to loose balls against the older Warriors in what was one of the most consequential 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 committed 16 turnovers, gave up 15 offensive rebounds and way too many open three-pointers, looking nothing like the dynastic team that won four titles from 2015-22.
Klay Thompson missed all 10 shots from the field and Stephen Curry didn’t get nearly enough help. Curry finished with 22 points but was hounded for much of the game by Keon Ellis.
The undrafted Ellis, who was on a two-way contract until February, added 15 points to go with 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 separated by less than 100 miles 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 matchup, when Sacramento fans celebrated the end of the record-long playoff drought.
Murray hit four three-pointers in the first quarter and the Kings built their lead to 16 points in the second quarter before the Warriors rallied behind their bench to cut the deficit to 54-50 at the half.
Golden State got within one early in the third quarter before Sacramento responded with a 19-5 win keyed by a pair of three-pointers from Ellis to build the lead back to 15 points.
The Kings were never threatened in the fourth quarter, leading to cheers to “Light the beam!” over the final few minutes.
Los Angeles Lakers 110-106 New Orleans Pelicans
LeBron James, Anthony Davis and their supporting cast have the Los Angeles Lakers looking like a tougher out 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 an injury in the final minutes of a tight 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 showcased what we were able to do both offensively and defensively,” said James, whose team enters the NBA playoffs having won 12 of 15 games. “We’ve got a good group going right now, good rotation, good plan and 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, throwing a towel to the floor in disgust as he walked into the tunnel with an apparent injury.
After the game, Pelicans coach Willie Green said Williamson had “left leg soreness”.
“He’s going to have some imaging on it tomorrow and we’ll figure out more,” Green said.
Soon after Williamson went out, James hit a jumper, Davis dunked Austin Reaves’ alley-oop lob, DeAngelo Russell hit a three and Davis grabbed a crucial offensive rebound, after which he hit two free throws to help the Lakers hold on.
The Pelicans “threw some heavy blows at us”, Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “They kept swinging. We kept fighting back.
“It revealed a lot about us and what we’re made of,” he added.
Davis finished with 20 points and 15 rebounds. Russell scored 21, hitting five times from deep. James was 10 of 10 on free throws and Davis 8 of 10.
The Lakers advance to face defending NBA champions Denver in the first round in a rematch of last season’s Western Conference finals, which was swept by the Nuggets. Game 1 is Saturday night.
The Pelicans will take on the winner of the other West play-in game between Golden State and Sacramento on Friday.
“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. “We’ve got to feel this one tonight and regroup and get ready for another one.”
Williamson, Green said, was “fantastic”.
“He settled into the game. He just continued to attack. He found seams. He rebounded the ball. He played fast,” Green continued. “(If) we have him for a few more minutes, maybe we have a chance to pull this thing out.”
The Lakers went 14 of 35 from three-point range. The Pelicans hit 9 of 29 from deep and Williamson didn’t get a lot of help from the Pelicans’ usual high scorers. Brandon Ingram – in his second game back from a 12-game absence because of a knee injury – missed 8 of 12 shots and finished with 11 points after spending the final few minutes on the bench.
“I just like the group that was on the floor at that time,” Green said. “BI is still getting 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, hitting two threes from beyond 28 feet in the second half to help New Orleans come back to tie it from a second-half deficit as large as 18 points.
The Lakers led 75-57 after Rui Hachimura’s layup in the third quarter. But New Orleans got back in the game by outscoring Los Angeles 19-8 during the final 5:31 of the period.
Williamson sparked the surge with a pair of layups. Murphy pulled up for a 31-foot 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 it when Williamson slammed down Jose Alvarado’s alley-oop lob in transition to make it 93-all 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 and took a 34-28 lead on Herb Jones’ three.
Los Angeles surged into the lead by outscoring New Orleans 34-16 in the second quarter, leading by as many as 14 after James, who had 15 first half points, hit two free throws to make it 58-44.
In the final seconds of the half, Williamson sprinted nearly the length of the court on the dribble for floating layup at the horn that made it 60-50.
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