The Warriors had a chance to clinch a top-six Western Conference seed on Friday night, and while that didn’t happen, they took another big step toward making it happen by beating the short-handed Kings 119-97 in Golden 1 Center.
With the win, the Warriors are 43-38 with one regular-season game remaining against the Portland Trail Blazers at the Moda Center on Sunday.
For now, the win pushes the Warriors a half-game ahead of the idle Los Angeles Clippers (42-38) for the No. 5 seeds. Golden State remains a full game ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers (42-39) and the New Orleans Pelicans (42-39).
Heading into the final weekend of the season, the equation is simple for the Warriors: Beat the Trail Blazers on Sunday and they’ll clinch a top-six seed in the West.
If the Warriors lose to the depleted Blazers, they will finish the regular season with a 43-39 record and will need a lot of help if they want to avoid the play-in tournament because they do not hold the tiebreakers with the Clippers. , Lakers or Pelicans.
The Clippers host the Blazers on Saturday, and if LA wins, they will move home ahead of the Warriors in the standings with each having one game remaining. Although they will have the same record, the Clippers hold the tiebreaker due to the better division record.
Should the Warriors fall to Portland on Sunday, they would need the Pelicans to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Lakers to lose to the Jazz, who have been eliminated from postseason contention.
Not much was settled on Friday night, with the Warriors, Pelicans and Lakers all winning, meaning the seeding will come down to the wire.
Sunday is set to be a chaotic scramble and it should be very entertaining.
Here’s how the Western Conference standings look heading into the final weekend of the season:
1. Denver Nuggets (52-28) — Caught the playoff spot and No. 1 seed
2. Memphis Grizzlies (51-30) — Caught the playoff spot and No. 2 seeds
3. Sacramento Kings (48-33) — Grabbed the playoff spot and No. 3 seeds
4. Phoenix Suns (45-36) — Grabbed the playoff spot and No. 4 seeds
5. Golden State Warriors (43-38)
6. Los Angeles Clippers (42-38)
7. Los Angeles Lakers (42-39)
8. New Orleans Pelicans (42-39)
9. Minnesota Timberwolves (40-40)
10. Oklahoma City Thunder (39-42) — Earned play-in spot
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Eliminated from playoff contention: Dallas Mavericks, Utah Jazz, Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets.