On Tuesday, April 16th, the No. 10 Golden State Warriors take on the No. 9 Sacramento Kings in the NBA Play-In Tournament. The winner of this game will take on the loser of Tuesday’s meeting between the Los Angeles Lakers and New Orleans Pelicans. The outcome will then decide who takes on the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs. With that in mind, keep reading for our preview of the game, which will be played at the Golden 1 Center at 10:00 pm ET on Tuesday, April 16th.
Make sure you come back to VSiN throughout the course of the NBA Playoffs. We’ll have previews of every single series, daily best bets and player props from Jonathan Von Tobel and myself, and betting trends and insights from our analytics guru Steve Makinen.
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How To Watch Warriors vs. Kings
Where: Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California
When: 10:00 pm ET on Tuesday, April 16th
Channel: TNT
Warriors vs. Kings Prediction
The last three meetings between these teams were decided by a single point, so these are two very evenly matched squads. And they have split wins in their four meetings this season. However, I have a hard time not backing the Warriors in this one. It’s just hard to forget that Stephen Curry scored 50 points in a 20-point road win when these teams met in Game 7 of their opening-round series last year. That performance spoke to Golden State’s edge in postseason experience, and it also proved that Curry is still the best player on the court when these teams meet.
While De’Aaron Fox is gaining on Curry as the 36-year-old continues to age, the Warriors did get him some rest towards the end of the regular season. So, Curry will be fresh when these teams get out there for this game. And this year’s Golden State team is a bit better than last year’s. The same can’t be said about Sacramento.
The Warriors have also been a much better team than the Kings lately. After the All-Star break, Golden State went 19-10 with a net rating of 4.4. Sacramento was just 15-13 in that same span. And while one can argue the Kings having home-court advantage should swing this in their favor, I’d caution against that line of thinking. During the regular season, the Warriors were 25-16 straight-up and 27-14 against the spread on the road. The Kings were just 24-17 SU and 18-23 ATS at home.
It’s also just hard to ignore that Malik Monk is out for Sacramento. Monk was the heavy betting favorite to win Sixth Man of the Year before he went down with a late-season injury. He’s absolutely crucial offensively for this Kings team. Without him, Sacramento will be relying way too much on Fox. And the bench minutes should favor the Warriors heavily. Golden State has had a nightly edge in the second unit since getting Chris Paul back.
This game could ultimately come down to the matchup between Domantas Sabonis and Draymond Green. If Sabonis performs like his usual self, Sacramento just might win. But Sabonis, who averaged 19.4 points and 13.7 rebounds per game on 59.4% shooting from the floor this season, averaged just 17.3 points and 11.3 rebounds on 51.0% shooting from the floor in four games against the Warriors. He has had quite a bit of trouble reaching his normal level of efficiency against Golden State. And again, that puts a lot of pressure on Fox to turn in a heroic performance.
Pick: Warriors -2.5 (-114)
I’m personally playing Warriors ML (-138).
