Warriors to face Kings as Lakers play Pelicans

The Warriors are back in the play-in tournament, and any loss will end their season.

Despite winning their season finale against Utah, the Warriors couldn’t move out of 10th place as the Kings and Lakers also won on Sunday.

It’s not the fate the Warriors — winners of four championships in the last decade and with a record luxury tax bill — wanted, but it’s the fate they earned in a loaded Western Conference. Too many blown leads, a 21-20 home record and Draymond Green’s suspensions kept them from reaching their potential.

Golden State finished with more wins than last year, when it earned the sixth seed, but its record this season was only good enough for 10th place. Under the pre-play-in tournament format, the Warriors (46-36) would not make the playoffs at all.

There is a strong belief within the Warriors organization that they can beat any team on any night. They have four Hall of Famers, a group of young, ascending talents, a defense that took shape around Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis, and finished regular season winners in 10 of their last 12 matches.

Their belief will be tested, first Tuesday at Golden 1 Center against the Kings in a single-elimination game in Northern California. If they win, they will advance to a second road playoff game against the loser of Tuesday night’s Pelicans-Lakers game in Game 7/8.

Two wins would earn them a series against the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.

Season Series

The Warriors and Kings have split four games but have not played since the Kings won 134-133 at Chase Center on Jan. 25.

The Kings will be the hosts because they won the tiebreaker thanks to their conference record.

The Warriors’ two wins came early in the season, before their rotation was established. In those games, Domantas Sabonis, who has always struggled against Golden State, shot a total of 15 of 31.

The Kings then knocked the Warriors out of the in-season tournament and won a late January contest in San Francisco. Three of the four games between the Kings and Warriors have been decided by one point.

Playoff history

Don’t call it a rivalry…right?

The Warriors eliminated the Kings last year in the first round, winning in seven games. Curry dropped 50 points in Game 7 of a tough series. Draymond Green was suspended for one game for stomping on Domantas Sabonis’ chest, escalating tensions between the two Northern California teams.

But is it a rivalry? The jury is still not elected.

“I’m going to have to check with the committee that defines what rivalry actually means,” Curry said last November. “I love the narrative around the back and forth, we’ve played them so many times over the last couple of years. Whatever you call it, it’s fun basketball.

This seven-game series is the only time the Warriors and Kings have met in the playoffs. Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox are All-Stars, but the Kings are still trying to become more than second fiddle in the region.

Scenarios to follow

Sacramento stumbled to the finish line, losing Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk to injuries. The Kings crushed Portland in the regular season finale, but lost five of six before that.

If Monk, one of the game’s top scorers, can return for the play-in, it would be a major boost for the Kings.