In the Eastern Conference, seven playoff spots still had to be determined. The Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers all had a shot at the No. 2 seed. The Orlando Magic, Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat all had a chance to secure the No. 5 seed.

In the West, the Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder were tied atop the conference standings at 56-25, the first time in NBA history three teams have gone into Game 82 with identical records and a chance to claim the No. 1 seed. The New Orleans Pelicans and Phoenix Suns were fighting for the No. 6 seed and there were three teams separated by one game in the 8-10 spots.

Going into the game, the Kings and Warriors were tied for ninth in the West, one game behind the No. 8 Lakers. When the dust settled, the Suns had beaten the Timberwolves to secure the No. 6 seed and the Pelicans had lost to the Lakers to fall to No. 7. The Lakers held on to the No. 8 spot while the Kings finished ninth and the Warriors finished 10th.

“I thought we came out and took care of business,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “We did what we could to control the little bit of control we had over our destiny and we got it done, and now we know who we’re going to play. We’ve just got to go out and execute and try to get a win.”

The Kings knew they couldn’t take anything for granted against the Blazers. Portland handed Sacramento one of its worst losses of the season on Dec. 26 in Portland, prevailing 130-113 despite the absences of Shaedon Sharpe and Deandre Ayton.

The Blazers were even more shorthanded this time. Ayton (back), Sharpe (abdomen), Malcolm Brogdon (elbow), Toumani Camara (rib), Jerami Grant (hamstring), Scoot Henderson (hip), Anfernee Simons (knee), Jabari Walker (knee) and Robert Williams III (knee) were all ruled out, representing 76.9% of Portland’s points this season.

Blazers coach Chauncey Billups cobbled together a starting lineup of Delano Blanton, Rayan Rupert, Justin Manaya, Kris Murray and Moses Brown.

Sacramento staged a 13-2 run to take a 29-13 lead late in the first quarter. The Kings went 11 of 16 (.688) from the field to start the game while the Blazers went 4 of 24 (.167).

The Kings went up by 26 points on a 3-pointer by Mitchell midway through the second quarter. They led 65-37 at the halftime break.

Sacramento shot 54.5% from the field and went 10 of 21 (.476) from 3-point range in the opening half. Portland went 15 of 52 (.288) from the field and 2 of 27 (.074) from long distance.

The Kings went up by 42 points in the third quarter and led by as many as 44 in the fourth.

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