Jakarta –
Los Angeles Lakers make sure you qualify for the playoffs NBA this season after beating the New Orleans Pelicans 110-106 in a play-in tournament duel. Whereas Golden State Warriors confirmed to be eliminated from the competition after falling 94-118 at the hands of the Sacramento Kings.
Playing at the Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Wednesday (17/4/2024) WIB, the Pelicans started the match with a 34-26 lead in the first quarter. However, the Lakers recovered in the second quarter and led 60-50 after scoring 34 points and giving the Pelicans only 16 points.
In the second half, the Pelicans tried to catch up, but their efforts in the last two quarters were not enough to catch up with the Lakers’ points, which also continued to increase. In the third quarter, the Pelicans’ 26-23 lead only reduced the gap between the two teams to 76-83.
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
Survive and Advance. Playoffs, here we come. pic.twitter.com/QW2M6EoZZZ
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) April 17, 2024
Meanwhile, in the fourth quarter, the Pelicans, who scored 30 points, were rewarded by the Lakers by scoring 27 points, so that the final result of 110-106 still belonged to the Lakers. In this match, LeBron James was the star with a score of 23 points, followed by D’Angelo Russell with 21 points.
Meanwhile in the Pelicans camp, Zion Williamson scored 40 points and 11 rebounds, followed by six players who scored close points, namely CJ McCollum (9), Larry Nance Jr (10), Jose Alvarado (10), Herb Jones (10), Brandon Ingram (11), and Trey Murphy (12).
This victory ensures that the Lakers qualify for the NBA playoffs as the seventh seed. They will meet second seed and defending champion Denver Nuggets in the first phase which uses the best of seven system.
Lock ’em in 🗓#MileHighPlayoffs | #Road2Gold pic.twitter.com/oToWRC6N6z
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) April 17, 2024
Meanwhile at the Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, a few hours later, the hosts appeared dominant from the start. Kings always close the quarter in a superior position.
After leading 31-22 in the first quarter, the Kings’ lead was cut to just 54-50 in the second quarter. However, Domantas Sabonis et al led 37-26 in the third quarter to take a 91-76 lead. And in the final quarter, that dominance continued.
An additional 27 points from the Kings could only be answered by 18 points by the Warriors so the match ended with a score of 118-94 for the Kings. Keegan Murray was the Kings’ star with 32 points, followed by De’Aaron Fox with 24 points. In the Warriors camp, Stephen Curry’s contribution of 22 points was the highest among his teammates.
With this result, the Warriors will certainly fail to qualify for the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Kings will meet the Pelicans on Saturday (20/4) to determine who will qualify for the playoffs as the eighth seed and will meet the first seed in the West, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The play-in tournament is an event to compete for tickets to the NBA playoffs for those ranked 7-10th in the final standings of the regular season in each region. In the western region this season, that position is successively filled by the Pelicans, Lakers, Kings and Warriors.
Rank 7 will meet rank 8, while rank 9 will meet rank 10. The winner of the 7 vs 8 duel will immediately qualify for the playoffs as the seventh seed, while the loser will meet the winner of the 9 vs 10 duel to determine who will qualify as the eighth seed.
NBA West region play-in results, Wednesday (17/4/2024):
New Orleans Pelicans 106-110 LA Lakers
Sacramento Kings 118-94 Golden State Warriors
(adp/aff)