Kings can earn home play-in game with win over Suns
The Sacramento Kings close the regular season at home on Sunday against the Phoenix Suns with a guaranteed place in the Western Conference play-in -- but with their seeding still up in the air.
Sacramento (39-42) will face Dallas in the play-in, but still to be determined is which team will host. The Kings and Mavericks have the same record, but Sacramento holds the tiebreaker for ninth place and home-court advantage.
A win on Sunday against Phoenix (36-45) guarantees the Kings the No. 9 seed, while a Sacramento loss with a Dallas win at Memphis relegates the Kings to No. 10.
A two-game losing skid landed Sacramento in this scenario, after the Kings had run off three straight wins on the road. They returned home to drop a 124-116 decision to Denver on Wednesday and a 101-100 setback on Friday against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Zach LaVine scored 10 points in the final 3:39 and DeMar DeRozan had a look at a would-be game-winning 3-pointer, but it was no good.
"To look forward, our physicality was really good, especially defensively," Sacramento's Keegan Murray said following Friday's loss. "If we take that into every game, we'll have a chance."
Sacramento ranks in the upper-third of the league in scoring offense at 115.8 points per game but in the lower-third defensively at 115.5 points surrendered per contest. The Kings held Los Angeles to 101 points for the team's lowest yield since limiting Dallas to 98 points in a 24-point rout on March 3.
On Sunday, Sacramento looks to continue that defensive pace against a Phoenix team playing without leading scorer Kevin Durant. Suns coach Mike Budenholzer told reporters on Friday that Durant, averaging 26.6 points per game, will sit out Sunday's contest.
Phoenix is eliminated from postseason contention, marking the organization's first time missing the playoffs since 2020. The Suns endured a disappointing campaign with Bradley Beal, who's coming off performances of 25 points against Oklahoma City on Wednesday and 21 points in Friday's win over San Antonio but has only appeared in 53 games.
Sunday will mark Durant's 20th missed game of the season, and midseason acquisition Nick Richards has been sidelined the last two games with an elbow injury.
"It's disheartening. Nobody's more pissed off about it than we are as a team," Beal said Friday following the 117-98 win over the Spurs, which snapped an eight-game Suns skid. "But we know Mat (Ishiba) is going to demand changes."
Rumors flying for weeks about potential personnel and staff moves have accompanied Phoenix's dismal finish. The Suns are 11-23 since Feb. 1.
Among the few wins Phoenix has recorded in that time, however, is its only defeat of Sacramento in three matchups this season. The Suns won a 122-106 decision on March 14 behind 22 points each from Devin Booker and Durant, and 20 points off the bench from Tyus Jones.
Sacramento's Malik Monk, who finished with 18 points and eight rebounds in the previous meeting with Phoenix, sustained an injured calf in the Kings' 127-117 win at Detroit on Sunday. Monk was sidelined for the two losses this week and will miss Sunday's regular-season finale.
--Field Level Media
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