After fighting back to the final buzzer, the Phoenix Suns beat the Sacramento Kings 108-107 to keep their hopes alive of avoiding the NBA play-in tournament.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Kevin Durant scored 28 points, Devin Booker had 21 and Bradley Beal added 20 for the Suns.
With this vital win for Phoenix, here is the current playoff picture in the Western Conference:
Western Conference Playoff Standings
Key: Play-in *
1. Oklahoma City Thunder (56-25)
2. Minnesota Timberwolves (56-25)
3. Denver Nuggets (56-25)
4. Los Angeles Clippers (51-30)
5. Dallas Mavericks (50-31)
6. New Orleans Pelicans (49-32)
7. Phoenix Suns (48-33)*
8. Los Angeles Lakers (46-35)*
9. Sacramento Kings (45-35)*
10. Golden State Warriors (45-36)*
Phoenix is still mathematically able to clinch the sixth seed even though the New Orleans Pelicans won 114-109 over the Golden State Warriors Friday night. With just one game left in the regular season, the Pelicans have 49 wins while the Suns have 48.
For the final game of their seasons, Phoenix must win against the No. 2 seeded Minnesota Timberwolves and need New Orleans to lose to the Los Angeles Lakers. Both games are at 12:30 p.m. PT.
If the Pelicans win though, the Suns are locked in for the No. 7 seed no matter the result they get vs. Minnesota.
The top-six teams are officially in the playoffs while seeds 7-10 will first compete in the play-in. In the play-in tournament, the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds clash while No. 9 and No. 10 do the same.
As for the top three of the “Wild West,” Oklahoma, Minnesota and Denver are all tied with identical 56-26 records.
There are no games in the NBA on Saturday before all 30 teams will play on Sunday to wrap up the regular season.
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Reporter Alec Cipollini covers Phoenix Sports News for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini
