Playoff watch: Kings, Suns, Lakers and Warriors fighting for play-in position
The Kings could have made the final days of this wild Western Conference playoff race so much easier on themselves if they hadn’t squandered so many winnable games over the course of the season.
They’ve blown more big leads than anyone cares to count and suffered unthinkable losses to the worst teams in the NBA, including the Portland Trail Blazers, Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards.
If the Kings had won those four games, they would be tied for fifth in the Western Conference, and they would have already clinched one of six automatic playoff berths. Instead, they are sitting at No. 8 in the West as they return to Golden 1 Center in Sacramento to conclude the regular season after blowing another 20-point lead in Tuesday’s 112-105 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Kings (45-34) will play the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday, Phoenix Suns on Friday and Blazers on Sunday. And then … who knows? Probably the play-in tournament, where they could face a single-elimination scenario with their playoff hopes hanging in the balance.
The Pelicans are sixth in the West, one game ahead of the No. 7 Phoenix Suns and two games ahead of the No. 8 Kings. The Los Angeles Lakers are a half-game behind the Kings at No. 9 followed by the Golden State Warriors, who are one game behind Sacramento at No. 10.
The top six teams in each conference will earn automatic bids to the playoffs. The next four teams will have to claw their way in through the play-in tournament. The teams that finish seventh and eighth will be facing a double-elimination situation with two chances to win one game. The teams that finish ninth and 10th will have to win two games while facing sudden death in a single-elimination scenario.
The Kings still have a chance to secure the No. 6 seed in the West, but at this point their chances are not good. They would have to go 3-0 against the Pelicans, Suns and Blazers, and the Pelicans would have to go 0-3 against the Kings, Warriors and Lakers,
Under that scenario, Sacramento would finish with 48 wins, New Orleans would finish with 47 wins and the Kings would win a potential tiebreaker against the Suns by virtue of a 3-2 advantage in the season series. The Kings would lose a head-to-head tiebreaker with the Pelicans and a three-way tie involving the Pelicans and Suns.
The Kings could also slide to No. 9 or No. 10 with one or more losses in their last three games.
The play-in tournament will be held April 16-19. The playoffs are set to begin April 20.
