The NBA regular season is officially in the books, and the Play-In Tournament begins Tuesday. It’s staring the Golden State Warriors in the face after their 124-119 overtime loss to the LA Clippers on Sunday, which dropped them to seventh in the final Western Conference standings and cost them an automatic playoff spot.
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Golden State will host the Memphis Grizzlies in the No. 7 versus No. 8 matchup Tuesday night, with the winner securing the seventh seed and facing the second-seeded Houston Rockets in the first round.
Should the Warriors lose to the Grizzlies at Chase Center, they will get one more shot on Friday and host the winner of the No. 9-No. 10 matchup between the Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavericks. A win would earn them the eighth seed and a first-round matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the West’s top-seeded team and the league’s best team in the regular season. But a loss would mark Golden State’s second consecutive season of missing the playoffs.
Although the Play-In Tournament has not been a happy hunting ground for the Warriors, which hold an 0-3 record in the event, Golden State enters Tuesday’s game having gone 3-1 against Memphis this season. They won their most recent matchup against the Grizzlies on April 1, and Curry had 52 points and made 12 three-pointers in that game.
On the latest episode of “The Athletic NBA Daily,” Dave DuFour, Es Baraheni and Zena Keita discuss Golden State’s Play-In chances against the Grizzlies, Steve Kerr’s decision to sit Jonathan Kuminga against the Clippers and whether Moses Moody should have been in the closing lineup. Watch the full discussion below.
Watch the full episode of “NBA Daily” below or on the YouTube channel, or via the “NBA Daily” podcast feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
(Top photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
