The Golden State Warriors could have a few key players back in the lineup on Friday night when they visit the Sacramento Kings.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he hopes to have Stephen Curry, Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis available against Sacramento.
The Warriors (37-43) will face the Kings (21-59) for the second time this week after winning 110-105 in San Francisco on Tuesday.
Curry sat out Thursday’s 119-103 home defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers due to right knee injury management. Golden State lost for the fifth time in its past six games and will be the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference and compete in the play-in tournament.
Horford has been out since March 13 with a calf injury, while Porzingis sat out Thursday due to illness.
Kerr is viewing the Warriors’ final two regular-season games as an opportunity to build much-needed chemistry ahead of the play-in tournament. Golden State will end the regular season on the road against the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.
“We’re in a position where we have a chance to get into the playoffs,” Kerr said. “We’ve got some guys who are getting healthy. We have a chance to hopefully put together a game (Friday) where we have what our roster would like for the play-in game.
“So (Friday) and Sunday maybe we get a couple of games to develop a little rhythm and get a swing at it. We’ve got some hope.”
Golden State used its 41st different starting lineup of the season in Thursday’s loss to the Lakers, who shot 61.4% from the field and 55.2% from 3-point range.
One bright spot was Warriors forward Charles Bassey, who had 12 points and a season-high 13 rebounds.
Sacramento will look to avenge Tuesday’s loss to Golden State, the Kings’ sixth defeat in the last eight games. The Kings played without DeMar DeRozan (hamstring injury) and Russell Westbrook (toe).
Killian Hayes scored 18 points off the bench to lead the Kings, and Maxime Raynaud added 17 points and eight rebounds.
“I’m so proud of the way they competed,” Sacramento coach Doug Christie said. “(Golden State) is a champion-level ballclub. They’ve been in a lot of different wars, and they made some shots at the end, but for the most part I really liked the competitiveness.”
The Kings found themselves in the midst of a controversy after the Warriors’ Seth Curry was fouled with the Kings leading by one with 3:15 remaining in the game.
Golden State was in the bonus at the time, leading to speculation that the Kings were trying to lose in order to improve their draft chances.
The NBA investigated the matter and cleared the Kings of any wrongdoing on Thursday after determining that Christie mistakenly believed the Warriors were not in the penalty.
Last month, Christie pushed back on any thoughts that the Kings would intentionally try to lose.
“Tanking is the last thing (I’d do),” he said after a win over the Utah Jazz on March 15. “I respect the game too much. These young men, in my opinion, when you do things like that, it hurts them.”
