Lakers survive Zion Williamson’s wrath; The kings forced the warriors into a state of uncertainty

Melissa Rohlin

FOX Sports NBA Writer

Rick Bucher

FOX Sports NBA Analyst

First round of 2024 NBA The in-season tournament opens Tuesday with the No. 8 seed Los Angeles Lakers upset seed number 7 New Orleans Pelican 110-106 at Smoothie King Center. The Lakers will continue to use the No. 2 seed Denver nuggets in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.

Then, seed number 9 Sacramento Kings Defending the home field, defeating the number 10 seed Golden Empire Warriors eliminated from the Kick-off Tournament. The Kings will play the Pelicans on Thursday for the final playoff spot and a date with Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round.

Here are some quick thoughts on Tuesday’s games from FOX Sports’ NBA reporters:

King 118, Warrior 94

Steve Kerr’s grim face. by Klay Thompson bloody lips and 1000 meter stare. Draymond Green’s shrugged angrily. Steph Curry’s He squinted his eyes and looked up at the sky, looking for answers.

The last scene of a dynasty.

“This is life,” coach Steve Kerr said. “You can’t stay at the top forever.”

The Golden State Warriors are neither on top nor alive this season, with their hopes of making the playoffs ending with a 114-98 loss to the ninth-seeded Sacramento Kings, who are currently visiting The New Orleans Pelicans on Friday are seeking the Western Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot as well as the right to face the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.

Meanwhile, the Warriors will begin roster analysis and soul-searching after the league’s top player payroll failed to secure a playoff spot. Thompson is an unrestricted free agent. The veteran point guard’s final year by Chris Paul The non-guaranteed contract is $30 million. Decisions need to be made about extensions Jonathan Kuminga And Moses Moody’s rookie scale contract. Owner Joe Lacob said cost-cutting measures were in place even before Tuesday’s disappointing finish.

“We certainly have a season where we have a lot to think about,” Kerr said.

[Related: How Steve Kerr navigated his toughest season with Warriors: ‘We love each other’]

Not that the Warriors expected it to end this way. They came to Sacramento hoping to salvage a season filled with self-inflicted challenges and unforeseeable tragedy. Green began his 12-game suspension after choking one opponent and backhanding another in mid-December, leading to a 10-11 score. Then, one game after his return, assistant coach Dejan Milojevic suffered a fatal heart attack, and the team wore T-shirts that read “Brate” – brother in Serbian – during the warm-up. dynamic for the remainder of the season.

Thompson’s difficulties saw him dropped from the starting lineup in mid-February, then Andrew Wiggins Left the group due to personal reasons. His absence only lasted a few games, but it sent another shockwave through the team. Wiggins missed the final seven weeks of the 2022-23 season under similarly gloomy circumstances.

A 10-2 run to close out the season gave the Warriors the West the final play-in spot, but they looked too old and too young compared to the Kings. Kuminga had 12 points in the first half but only scored four more in the second half. Rookie guard Brandin Podziemski also had a strong first half with five points and five rebounds but went scoreless in the second half. Rookie Center Trayce Jackson-Davis started but only played 10 minutes, contributing one rebound and two points. Curry, 36, faced a wall of Sacramento purple jerseys as soon as he crossed midcourt and the attention that ultimately drew four of his six turnovers came in the second half, Most are not forced.

Thompson, 34, failed to score, missing all 10 shots, including six three-pointers. Green, also 34, had three rebounds in 35 minutes, the fewest he had in a game this season in which he played more than 30 minutes. Meanwhile, the Coltish Kings had nine counter-attacks before the Warriors got their first goal, which was a block from Jonathan Kuminga due to his own foul in the final minute of the first half.

Destroying the warriors would have been sweet revenge for the kings in general and Harrison Barnes in particular. The Warriors eliminated the Kings last season, overcoming a 2-0 series deficit to upset third-seeded Sacramento in the first round last year, including a decisive loss in Game 7 on the same Golden One Center floor. Thisr.

Meanwhile, Barnes was dropped by the Warriors in favor of a transfer Kevin Durant after they took a 3-1 lead in the 2016 Final, Cleveland Cavaliers‘ The comeback was helped in part by Barnes shooting 5-for-32 in the final three games of that series. It was a different story Tuesday night, as Barnes finished with 17 points, including 3 of 4 three-pointers, and a team-high plus-minus of 29. He seemed especially pleased when repeatedly bumped Thompson off balance and scored past him. .

Kerr spent the final minutes of Tuesday night’s game reflecting on his journey to the Finals in 2016 as well as the five other journeys he and his core group of Curry, Thompson and Green have taken.

“Our core group has been to six finals,” Kerr said. “That’s what I was thinking about when it was clear we were losing. Our guys have been fighting for a long time. We’ve been fortunate to reach some incredible heights. Here’s the flip side. “

Lakers 110, Pelicans 106

What a shame Zion Williamson.

After a great performance of 40 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 blocked shot in 36 minutes in the New Orleans Pelicans’ play-in game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday, he suffered an obvious leg pain. Injured with just over 3 minutes left and had to go to the locker room.

At that time, the score was 95-95.

Without Williamson, the Lakers rallied in the final minutes to claim the seventh seed. Their consolation prize? In the first round of the playoffs, they will face the second-seeded Denver Nuggets, the defending NBA champions who eliminated them from last year’s Western Conference Finals.

The whole situation is a bummer for the oft-injured Williamson, who has transformed his body this season on the way to playing a career-high 70 games. On Tuesday, he had the most impressive performance of his career, helping the Pelicans bounce back from an 18-point deficit on a big stage.

Now the Pelicans’ season will be in jeopardy as their star player status is now up in the air as they play the winner of another play-in game between the ninth-seeded Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors No. 10 seed on Friday.

As for the Lakers, they vacillated between stunning defensive displays and complete and utter embarrassment, but in the end they pulled out the win with 23 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists from LeBron James20 points, 15 rebounds and 3 blocked shots from Anthony Davis and 21 points from D’Angelo Russell, including five 3-pointers.

The Lakers outrebounded the Pelicans from the free throw line, 29-15, and committed just eight turnovers compared to the Pelicans’ 13, helping them overcome being outscored by the Pelicans, 50-41.

So, in short, the Pelicans lost Zion. And the Lakers have lost all hope of avoiding the Nuggets in the first rounds.

Winner? We, the people, witnessed a match that lasted for centuries.

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