In the Western region, the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors will face off in the Play-In series to secure a spot in the playoffs.

The winning team will then face the loser of the Los Angeles Lakers vs New Orleans Pelicans matchup to compete for the 8th seed, while the losing team will be eliminated. Therefore, this can be seen as a do-or-die match for both teams if they still want to contend for a high finish in the 2023/24 season.

In this article, The Sporting News will provide the essential information about the showdown between the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings in the NBA Play-In of the 2023/24 season.

Predictions: Golden State Warriors vs Sacramento Kings

In recent years, the Golden State Warriors have been seasoned through numerous high-stakes matchups like this. Meanwhile, the Sacramento Kings only returned to the playoffs last year after a 16-year absence from this stage.

Therefore, the Golden State Warriors will have more experience in battling compared to their opponents. Additionally, they are also in good form, having secured 10 victories in their last 12 games. This contrasts starkly with the Sacramento Kings, who have lost 7 out of their last 11 games of the season. The injury to Malik Monk further diminishes the impressive form of the Sacramento Kings in the first half of the 2023/24 season.

Which team will be the winner? It is in the favor of Golden State Warriors

Who will stop Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors?

For all NBA teams, they understand that they cannot afford to slack off against Stephen Curry in any game against the Golden State Warriors. Once the 36-year-old player has the ball, he always knows how to create danger, especially with his three-point shooting.

In the first game, the Kings experimented with rotating three guards Chris Duarte, Kevin Huerter, and Davion Mitchell to guard Stephen Curry, as well as trying to wear down his stamina. However, with Curry still able to score up to 41 points, this strategy proved ineffective, and coach Mike Brown made adjustments in subsequent games.

Instead of using smaller players, coach Mike Brown sacrificed speed to deploy a slower but taller defensive player. Keegan Murray, a 2.03m forward, was utilized with the aim of minimizing Stephen Curry’s three-point attempts.

However, this strategy only yielded limited results, as Stephen Curry still managed to score 21, 29, and 33 points respectively in the remaining three games. These are all high-scoring outputs compared to the average statistics of a player in a game, and the Kings will need to explore new tactics if they want to limit the danger posed by the superstar on the opposing team.