A year ago, with their season on the line, Stephen Curry put the whole Golden State Warriors’ playoff hopes on his 34-year-old shoulders with a 50-point masterpiece in a Game 7 win over the Sacramento Kings.
Fast forward to almost 12 months later, Curry returns to the same place he dazzled and might have something even greater in store.
Curry and the no. 10 Warriors will once again face the same team they beat last year as they visit De’Aaron Fox and the no. 9 Kings in a win-or-go home scenario in the main game of the Western Conference Play-In Tournament tomorrow.
The stage is set for the #SoFiPlayIn 🔥@Lakers vs. @PelicansNBA @Warriors vs. @SacramentoKings
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 14, 2024
TUESDAY on TNT 🍿 pic.twitter.com/FZGQkSaZCh
The two-time MVP scored a playoff career-high 50 points--the most points in Game 7 in history--to lead Golden State to victory as the Warriors outscored the Kings, 64-42, in the second half of that game.
That heartbreaking loss ended the Kings’ best season in almost two decades, in which they clinched the third-seed in the West behind a 48-34 record and Mike Brown winning the 2023 Coach of the Year award.
A year later, both squads find themselves meeting earlier with either one of them ending their season as early as this week.
The Warriors head into the Play-In game having won 10 of their last 12 games, while the Kings have lost five of their previous seven contests.
They finished having the same exact regular-season records, 46-36, with both squads splitting their four-game series. Golden State won the first two contests and Sacramento came out as victors in the last two. But three of the four games were decided by one point.
Curry averaged 31.0 points playing the Kings in the regular season on 52.5-percent shooting and shot 45.7 percent from long distance.
Still intact with their trio of Curry-Klay Thompson-Draymond alongside Kevon Looney and Andrew Wiggins, Golden State will now have an impactful youth brigade headed by the much-improved Jonathan Kuminga and rookies Trayce Jackson-Davis and Brandon Podziemski.
After reports surfacing of his displeasure in his role, Kuminga responded in a big way possible, coming up his best-season so far with averages of 16 points and five rebounds on a 52% shooting.
Jonathan Kuminga, at 21 years old, ended Year 3 averaging 16.1 points per game
Pascal Siakam, 24, in Year 3: 16.9 ppg
— Dalton Johnson (@DaltonJ_Johnson) April 15, 2024
Jaylen Brown, 21, in Year 3: 14.5 ppg
Kawhi Leonard, 22, in Year 3: 12.8 ppg
18-year veteran Chris Paul is also to make his postseason debut as a Warrior.
On the other hand, Sacramento remained in the top six for much of the season, but slipped into the Play-In when they lost key guards Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk to season-ending injuries.
The Kings had a chance to avoid in the Play-In but fumbled against the Phoenix Suns at home on April 13 but ended their regular season with a rout of the Portland Trail Blazers.
With Fox still leading them at scoring ay 26.6 points per game, Domantas Sabonis, the league’s top double-double and triple-double leader this season, will once again pose a big threat for Sacramento with a 19-14-8 regular season statline.
However, guys like Keegan Murray and Harrison Barnes among others need to make up for the absence of Monk and Hurter.
The tenth seed Golden State Warriors will take on the ninth seed Sacramento Kings on Wednesday, April 17, 10 a.m. on NBA TV Philippines.
