The Golden State Warriors are the new No. 9 seed in the NBA’s Western Conference.
After beating the Portland Trail Blazers (21-59), 100-92, on Thursday night, the Warriors (45-35) jumped ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers (45-35) thanks to the head-to-head tiebreaker.
If the play-in tournament started Friday, the Warriors would play the Lakers in the first play-in game, with another play-in game victory needed to advance to the NBA postseason.
But there’s still time for the Warriors to wiggle their way up the standings.
They return home Friday night to play the New Orleans Pelicans (48-32) and will close out the season at Chase Center on Sunday against the already-eliminated Utah Jazz (30-50).
With the Sacramento Kings (45-35) fading – the Kings lost again on Thursday and have lost four of their last five – the Warriors have a chance to climb as high as the No. 8 seed.
No matter what the Kings do, if the Warriors win out, they’ll guarantee the No. 9 seed and at least have a play-in game at home.
But if the Warriors win out and the Kings lose one of their last two games against either the Phoenix Suns (47-33) or the Trail Blazers, the Warriors would secure the No. 8 seed. (The Kings have the tiebreaker over the Warriors if the two teams end up with the same record.)
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To get into the play-in tournament as the No. 8 seed would open up a whole new world for the Warriors. They’d play a single-elimination game against the No. 7 seed – either the Pelicans or the Phoenix Suns (47-33), with the winner securing the No. 7 seed in the postseason, and the loser getting another chance to play a single-elimination game against the winner of the No. 9 vs. No. 10 game.
Securing the No. 7 seed in the postseason means the Warriors would likely avoid the Denver Nuggets in the first round. The Nuggets (56-24) have a one-game lead atop the Western Conference and control their own destiny for the No. 1 seed. They’ve also gone 4-0 against the Warriors this year, with Nikola Jokić looking unstoppable in those games.
If the Warriors end the season as the No. 9 seed, they’d need to win the play-in game vs. the No. 10 seed, then beat the loser of the No. 7 vs. No. 8 game, and then they’d enter the postseason as the No. 8 seed with a first-round matchup against the No. 1 seed as their prize.
The play-in tournament begins Tuesday, when the No. 7 seed will host the No. 8 seed. The play-in game between the No. 9 and No. 10 seeds will be on Wednesday.
The Warriors return home Friday night to play the New Orleans Pelicans (48-32) and will close out the season at Chase Center on Sunday against the already-eliminated Utah Jazz (30-50).
The Warriors have won nine of their last 10 and are on the verge of ending the regular season on a hot streak for the fourth time in as many years. Last year, they won eight of their last 10; the year before, they won five in a row to finish the regular season, then won an NBA title, and the year before that, they won eight of their last nine.
Draymond Green (bruised knee), Klay Thompson (calf tightness) and Gary Payton II (calf tightness were all held out of the Warriors’ win on Thursday, but are expected to play on Friday, Kerr told reporters in Portland.