One year after Golden State won a Game 7 on the road in Sacramento, the Kings avenged the loss by eliminating the Warriors Tuesday night by a score of 118-94.
Sacramento led by as many as 16 points in the second quarter but the Warriors closed the half strong and cut the deficit to just four points entering the break. A little less than two minutes into the third quarter, an Andrew Wiggins basket brought the Warriors to within one — 58-57.
However, the Kings promptly went on a 19-5 run to put the game out of reach. Golden State couldn’t cut the deficit to single digits the rest of the way as Sacramento’s home crowd spent a majority of the second half celebrating in anticipation of lighting the beam.
The Kings were led by Keegan Murray (32 points) and De’Aaron Fox (24), while Steph Curry led Golden State with 22 points. Klay Thompson had a nightmare of a game — finishing with zero points going 0-of-10 from the field. Next, the Kings will travel to New Orleans to take on the Pelicans for an opportunity to play No. 1 Oklahoma City in the first round.
“We knew what was on the line,” Fox said. “This was just another obstacle in our way. We have to get over this hump. Obviously losing to this team last year and obviously facing this team now, it’s like, of course we have to face this team.”
Sacramento and New Orleans played five times in the regular season, with the Pelicans winning all five games with relative ease. However, with Zion Williamson’s status in doubt, the Kings may enter the matchup as a slight favorite. The battle for the No. 8 seed will take place Friday night.
