Kings defeat Warriors 118-94 to get beyond the play-in round.

With a 118-94 victory on Tuesday night, Keegan Murray scored 32 points, De’Aaron Fox added 24, and the Sacramento Kings survived the play-in round by eliminating the Golden State Warriors.
After ending an NBA record 16-year postseason drought last season, Sacramento advanced to play against New Orleans on Friday night with the opportunity to make a playoff comeback as the eighth seed in the Western Conference.

One of the most important victories for the team in twenty years, the Kings overcame a Game 7 defeat at home to Golden State in the previous year’s first round by outplaying the more experienced Warriors and being faster to loose balls.
After two losses in the play-in tournament, Golden State Warriors was eliminated from the playoffs for the third time in the previous five seasons as a result of the defeat. The Warriors looked nothing like the legendary club that won four championships from 2015 to 22 as they committed 16 turnovers, gave up 15 offensive rebounds, and missed far too many open 3-pointers.
Not enough assistance was provided for Stephen Curry, and Klay Thompson missed all ten of his field goals. Curry ended with 22 points, but Keon Ellis harassed him for the most of the contest.
Along with his solid defense, the undrafted Ellis—who had a two-way deal until February—added 15 points. For Sacramento, Domantas Sabonis had 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Harrison Barnes scored 17.
This matchup between the rivals from Northern California, separated by less than 100 miles, was a replay of Golden State’s victory in the series last year. Curry finished the seventh game with 50 points.
Even while the intensity didn’t quite approach that of last year’s game, when Sacramento supporters celebrated the end of the franchise’s record-breaking postseason drought, the crowd was boisterous from the first.
Before the Warriors rallied behind their bench to narrow the gap to 54-50 at the half, Murray scored four 3-pointers in the first quarter and the Kings extended their advantage to 16 points in the second.
Ellis drained two 3-pointers to help Sacramento rally for a 19-5 victory that restored the margin to 15 points.
The fourth quarter saw no danger to the Kings, which prompted yells of “Light the beam!” in the closing seconds.
Next up
Kings: After losing six or more games to the same opponent in a season, Sacramento hasn’t lost to the same opponent in a regular season since going winless against the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1983–84 regular season and playoffs. Sacramento finished 0–5 versus New Orleans in the regular season.

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