NBA playoff race: How the Kings can set up crucial showdown with Spurs in San Antonio
The Kings are still alive in a playoff race that could come down to the final days of the regular season, but they will have to traverse a narrow path over the last 20 games to make their first postseason appearance since 2006.
Rookie center Harry Giles III hasn’t been in the NBA long, but he knows exactly what the Kings must do to end the league’s longest playoff drought:
“Win,” he said. “That’s it. Make sure we win.”
Sacramento (31-31) was three games behind the San Antonio Spurs for the eighth spot in the Western Conference going into Monday night’s game against the New York Knicks (13-50) at Golden 1 Center. The Los Angeles Clippers were a half-game ahead of the Spurs.
The Clippers (36-29) swept the Kings in the season series and would hold a tiebreaker advantage should they finish with identical records, effectively leaving Sacramento 4 1/2 games back. Many suspected the Clippers would bow out of the playoff race after they traded Tobias Harris to the Philadelphia 76ers — noting they have a lottery-protected first-round draft pick that will go to the Boston Celtics if they make the playoffs — but owner Steve Ballmer has reportedly made it clear he still wants his team to reach the playoffs.
The Spurs (35-29) are a more realistic target for the Kings at this point. San Antonio has lost seven of its last 10 games, including a 127-112 loss in Sacramento on Feb. 4. The Kings have beaten the Spurs twice and will hold the tiebreaker advantage no matter what happens in their final meeting March 31 in San Antonio, a game that looms large on both teams’ schedules.
“These games are fun,” Kings guard Buddy Hield said. “They bring a lot of pressure, but it’s fun.”
The Kings, who just concluded a rigorous portion of their schedule, have an opportunity to gain ground on the Spurs before they go to San Antonio. They will play 14 games between now and then, 10 against teams with losing records and two against the struggling Boston Celtics, who have lost seven of their last 10.
The Spurs will play 12 games before they face the Kings again. That stretch will include games against the Denver Nuggets, Milwaukee Bucks, Portland Trail Blazers, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets and Celtics.
If the Kings go 10-4 and the Spurs 6-6 leading to their showdown in San Antonio, both teams will go into the game with 41-35 records.
“Twenty games left,” Kings center Willie Cauley-Stein said. “We’re getting into our best basketball. We’re all starting to figure out how we should finish games. ... We’re talking about it. When you’re talking about it, it’s only a matter of time before it starts happening. That’s the biggest thing for us. We’re continuing to learn and grow and staying with each other. That’s the key.”
This story was originally published March 4, 2019 at 2:20 PM.
