The Kings and Warriors split the season series and finished the regular season with identical 46-36 records to tie for ninth in the Western Conference. The Kings won the tiebreaker because they had a better division record, giving them homecourt advantage in the play-in game.

Fist-pumping DJs, drummers, food vendors and thousands of fans filled DoCo plaza and the streets surrounding the arena in a festive seen before the game. That sense of anticipation and excitement gradually filled the building, creating a raucous atmosphere inside the arena.

“Our fans are unbelievable and it gets electric,” Kings coach Mike Brown said in his pregame news conference. “In the position we are in right now, we definitely need their energy throughout the course of 48 minutes, so to be at home and feed off them and their energy is a must, and we’re excited about doing it.”

Draymond Green, the man Sacramento loves to hate, knocked down a 3-pointer from the corner on the opening possession. Murray answered with three 3s in the first three minutes and Fox followed with a flying putback dunk to help the Kings take an early 13-8 lead. The Kings went up 21-12 on two free throws by Ellis and stretched their lead to 10 on a breakaway dunk by Fox. The Kings led 31-22 after outrebounding the Warriors 16-7 in the first period.

Sacramento went up by 16 early in the second quarter. Golden State came back to cut the deficit to nine on a basket by Kevon Looney. The Kings quickly pushed it back to double digits, but Kuminga scored three consecutive baskets in a span of 56 seconds to cut the lead to 48-40, prompting Brown to take a timeout.

Fox scored out of the timeout to put his team up by 10, but the Kings went into the halftime break with a tenuous 54-50 lead after the Warriors closed the half with a 14-4 run over the last 2:15.

The Warriors were fortunate to be in that position after Curry was held to five points and Thompson went scoreless on 0-of-5 shooting in the opening half. The Kings let them off the hook, going 8 of 26 (.308) from the field and 3 of 10 (.300) from 3-point range in the second period.

Golden State got within one on a basket by Andrew Wiggins early in the third quarter. Ellis, Murray and Barnes hit 3-pointers to fuel an 11-0 run that put Sacramento up 69-57, but there was a sense of uneasiness when Sabonis picked up his fourth foul with 6:57 to play in the third.

Sabonis stayed in the game as the Kings went up 77-62 following 3-pointers from Fox and Ellis. Sabonis went to the bench at the 5:13 mark, but the Kings maintained their lead to carry a 91-76 advantage into the fourth quarter.

Harrison Barnes hit a fallaway jumper over Green to put the Kings up 97-78 with 9:35 to play. The Warriors made a push to get within 13 with 7:03 remaining, but the Kings put the Warriors away with back-to-back 3s from Murray and Barnes.

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