Payback time: Kings beat Warriors in play-in tournament to set up showdown with Pelicans

The Kings wanted payback a year after the Golden State Warriors handed them a heartbreaking loss in Game 7 of an unforgettable first-round playoff series.

They shared that moment with their home crowd Tuesday evening in Sacramento, ending Golden State’s season with a resounding victory in the NBA play-in tournament.

Keegan Murray scored 32 points to lead the Kings to a 118-94 win over the Warriors in a play-in elimination game before a sellout crowd of 18,304 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.

Murray went 10 of 20 from the field and 8 of 13 from 3-point range.

“The lights were as bright as they could be and he stepped up and delivered,” Kings coach Mike Brown said.

Kings fans chanted “SAC-RA-MENTO” and “Light the Beam” as Warriors fans scurried off to the exits when the lead swelled to 26 points in the final minutes.

“It doesn’t take away what they did to us last year at all,” Murray said. “That still stings to this day, but it kind of peels the Band-Aid off a little bit. They got us last year. We got them this year.”

The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 110-106 in the other play-in game Tuesday to secure the No. 7 seed in the West. The Kings will go on the road to face the Pelicans on Friday. Pelicans star Zion Williamson has been ruled out with a left hamstring strain.

The Pelicans dominated the season series, going 5-0 against the Kings. The winner of this one will advance to the playoffs as the No. 8 seed to face the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.

“I’m confident in this team,” Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox said. “I feel like, especially tonight, we came out and we were ready to play. We know what’s on the line. This is just another obstacle in our way.”

Fox had 24 points and six assists for the Kings. Harrison Barnes scored 17 points. Domantas Sabonis had 16 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists.

Keon Ellis, an undrafted player out of Alabama who was on a two-way contract until Feb. 10, finished with 15 points, four rebounds, five assists, three steals and three blocked shots.

Stephen Curry scored 22 points to lead the Warriors. Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody had 16 points apiece. Klay Thompson was held scoreless on 0-of-10 shooting.

The Kings held the Warriors to 41.2% shooting. They had a 15-8 advantage in offensive rebounds and outscored the Warriors 25-9 in second-chance points.

“I think they physically took it to us tonight,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “The offensive rebounds early in the game set a tone. They got into us and didn’t let us get into our offense. We hung in there we had a good second quarter to keep the game close. The start of the third, getting Steph some space, and we just couldn’t stay with them. They dominated us physically. I think they have about 18 more field-goal attempts on us between the turnovers and the offensive boards. It was just total domination. They deserved it. They had a great game tonight. Mike and his staff did a great job. Give them credit. They deserved it.”

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,” 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.

“We know historically they are very good in third quarter,” Murray said. “They beat us a lot of times in the third quarter and I feel like our intent, our attention to detail, going into third quarter was big and we got out to a nine-point lead before the first timeout. And we got a lot of 50-50 balls, which were good in that quarter to kind of get actual possessions for us.”

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.

“I just like that we just stayed focused all 48 minutes,” Sabonis said. “We didn’t let the game get away or let any distractions leak in. We just kind of stayed focused and did what we had to do.”