How Warriors can win West Group C, reach NBA In-Season Tournament quarterfinals
originally appeared on
NBC Sports Bay Area
The Warriors remained competitive in the NBA In-Season Tournament on Friday.
Thanks to Steph Curry’s 35 points, Golden State
prevailed over the San Antonio Spurs 118-112
at Chase Center to improve to 2-1 in the In-Season Tournament.
The Warriors (2-1) are currently behind the Kings (3-0) in the West Group C standings and share the same record as the Timberwolves (2-1). One of these three teams will emerge as the winner of Group C and proceed to the In-Season Tournament quarterfinals, as the Thunder (1-2) and Spurs (0-4) have been eliminated.
The Warriors will conclude their In-Season Tournament schedule on Tuesday against the Kings at Golden 1 Center. They can only progress to the quarterfinals with a victory over Sacramento. Here’s how the Warriors can make it out of the group stage:
Warriors beat Kings; Thunder beat Timberwolves
If the Warriors and Kings both win, Golden State wins the head-to-head In-Season Tournament tiebreaker over Sacramento.
Warriors beat Kings; Timberwolves beat Thunder
If the Warriors and Kings win, alongside the Timberwolves defeating the Thunder, the deciding tiebreaker would be determined based on point differentials and total points scored in the group stage, followed by regular season record and random drawing.
After three games, the Kings boast the best point differential among these three teams at plus-29, followed by the Warriors (plus-5) and Wolves (minus-3).
If the teams are still tied after point differential, the next determination is total points scored in Group C play, which the Warriors lead with 360 points, followed by the Kings (358) and Timberwolves (332).
Wild card
The possibility of Golden State advancing to the quarterfinals as the Wild Card is slim but plausible. For this to happen, the Kings would have to fall to the Warriors, the Timberwolves would need to defeat the Thunder, and Golden State would have to lose the Group C title in a tiebreaker.
The Phoenix Suns (3-1) currently hold the wild-card spot with a plus-34 point differential, making it a difficult position for the Warriors to surpass.
Simple enough, right?
Regardless of the outcomes, Tuesday’s matchup at Golden 1 Center is anticipated to be an enthralling event as Draymond Green returns from his five-game suspension for another chapter of the burgeoning Warriors-Kings rivalry, this time with In-Season Tournament implications.
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