Tuesday marked the final night of group play in the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament. While some teams had locked in their positioning for the knockout round, there were still plenty of details to be determined.
The Sacramento Kings came back from a sizable deficit to defeat Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, 124-123, at home. Golden State led by as many as 24 points and seemed poised to cruise to an easy win. However, De’Aaron Fox had 29 points and Malik Monk added 21 points off the bench.
This means the Kings will be the second seed in the Western Conference. They had a faint chance of catching the Los Angeles Lakers, the winner of Group A, for the top seed, but they would’ve had to win by an extremely large margin.
The Lakers are set to play the Phoenix Suns, who, as a wild card, are the fourth seed in the West, in the quarterfinal round of the in-season tournament.
In-Season Tournament Quarterfinals:
1) Lakers host the 4) Suns.
2) Kings host the 3) Pelicans.
Winners meet in Las Vegas.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) November 29, 2023
That contest will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 5 at Crypto.com Arena at 7 p.m. Pacific time.
Lakers-Suns on Tuesday in Los Angeles at 7 PT for a right to go to play for the money in Vegas. LA will try to beat PHX for a third straight time. pic.twitter.com/VckGfWeVi1
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) November 29, 2023
The winner of that contest will play the winner of the other Western Conference quarterfinal game in the semifinal round on Dec. 7 in Las Vegas. The championship round will take place on Dec. 9 with the first NBA Cup at stake.
Everyone loves a bracket…
The NBA In-Season Tournament moves on to the Knockout Rounds!
Quarterfinals: Dec. 4 & 5
Semifinals: Dec. 7
Championship: Dec. 9 pic.twitter.com/7yoDMwe9Xe— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) November 29, 2023
The Lakers have already beaten Phoenix twice this season. In both games, they came back from a double-digit second-half deficit to win.