How Warriors can win West Group C, reach NBA In-Season Tournament quarterfinals

The Warriors stayed alive in the NBA In-Season Tournament on Friday.

Behind Steph Curry’s 35 points, Golden State edged the San Antonio Spurs 118-112 at Chase Center to improve to 2-1 in the In-Season Tournament.

The Warriors (2-1) trail only the Kings (3-0) in the West Group C standings and have the same record as the Timberwolves (2-1). One of those three teams will win Group C and advance to the In-Season Tournament quarterfinals, as the Thunder (1-2) and Spurs (0-4) are eliminated.

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- Pelicans sit atop West Group B
- Timberwolves, Suns, Warriors, and Rockets remain alive

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— NBA November 25, 2023

The Warriors wrap up their In-Season Tournament schedule Tuesday against the Kings at Golden 1 Center. They can only advance to the quarterfinals with a win over Sacramento. Here’s how the Warriors can make it out of the group stage:

Warriors beat Kings; Thunder beat Timberwolves

The Warriors and Kings both would be 3-1, and Golden State would win the head-to-head In-Season Tournament tiebreaker over Sacramento.

Warriors beat Kings; Timberwolves beat Thunder

The Warriors, Kings, and Timberwolves all would be 3-1 with 1-1 head-to-head records against each other. The winner of Group C would go down to the next deciding tiebreaker in this order: point differential in group stage, total points scored in group stage, 2022-23 regular-season record and random drawing.

After three games, the Kings boast the best point differential among those three teams at plus-29, followed by the Warriors (plus-5) and Wolves (minus-3).

If the teams still are tied after point differential, it goes to total points scored in Group C play, which the Warriors lead with 360 points, followed by the Kings (358) and Timberwolves (332).

Wild card

Golden State advancing to the quarterfinals as the Western Conference’s wild card is unlikely. They would have to beat the Kings combined with the Timberwolves defeating 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 and own a plus-34 point differential. That’s going to be tough for the Warriors to top.

Simple enough, right?

Regardless of scenarios, Tuesday’s matchup at Golden 1 Center is going to be fun to watch as Draymond Green returns from his five-game suspension for another chapter of the budding Warriors-Kings rivalry, this time with In-Season Tournament implications.

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