Kings officially locked into play-in tournament with 135-123 loss to Pelicans
SACRAMENTO — Sacramento's path to the playoffs will officially go through the Play-In Tournament after the Kings lost to the New Orleans Pelicans 135-123 at the Golden 1 Center on Thursday night.
"It's a must-win!" said season-ticket-holder Jordan Kestler before Thursday's tipoff. "We hope we make it out of the play-in. That's our hope right now."
That hope fell flat Thursday.
New Orleans, the Western Conference 6 seed, has been a tough matchup for Sacramento all season. A Kings win over the Pelicans would have moved Sacramento within 1 game of the sixth seed in the Western Conference, which would guarantee a playoff spot, with two more games left in the season for both teams.
However, the Kings are now three games back from New Orleans and won't be able to catch them.
Domantas Sabonis, who had his record double-double streak snapped in the Kings' previous game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, had 18 points and 10 rebounds against the Pelicans.
De'Aaron Fox had a team-high 33 points along with 8 assists and 5 rebounds. Harrison Barnes scored 22 points while Keegan Murray added 19 of his own.
Sacramento has been without Malik Monk, the NBA's frontrunner for Sixth Man of the Year, in this final stretch before the playoffs due to injury. Monk would likely miss the entire first round of the playoffs at a minimum if Sacramento clinched. Kevin Huerter is another missing piece who has been ruled out for the rest of the year after undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery.
"It's been a little bit of a disappointment but we still have a chance to get in there," said Kings fan Danny Villanueva, dressed to the nines in a regal king costume complete with robes and a crown Thursday.
"My wife hand-sewed it," Villanueva said. "She's making another one. It's almost finished for the playoffs. So we'll see how we do."
Sacramento's final two games of the season are against the Phoenix Suns on Friday and the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday.
How does the play-in tournament work?
With the top six seeds in each conference securing a playoff spot, the 7-10 seeds battle it out in the play-in tournament to determine who gets each conference's last two playoff spots.
First, each 7th seed hosts the 8th seed. The winner secures the 7th seed in the playoffs.
Then, the 9th seeds host the 10th seeds. The losers are eliminated from playoff contention while the winners go on to play whoever lost the first matchups to secure each conference's 8th seed.