Warriors, fans prepare for tournament Play-in game

San Francisco, CA - The Golden State Warriors face a pivotal NBA Western Conference Play-in Tournament game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night at Chase Center in San Francisco.

Arena staffers spent the early morning hours measuring the height of both basket rims, putting up new netting and cleaning the backboard glass. The team had a morning shoot-around scheduled.

The seventh-seeded Warriors face the eighth-seeded Grizzlies at 7 p.m. for the right to advance to the playoffs. Memphis secured its spot in the play-in game by winning its last regular-season game Sunday.

But  the Warriors didn't do the same to avoid the relatively new playoff format. Golden State could have been the sixth seed but lost to the Los Angeles Clippers Sunday at home in an overtime thriller, 124-119.

Steph Curry — playing with an injured thumb – scored 36 points. But the Clippers' James Harden had 39, which helped seal the deal for LA. They're now the fifth seed, while the Dubs need a win in order to avoid a more arduous path to the playoffs.

"They gotta win tonight to have four days off before the first round starts. And I don't think it's too dramatic to say that a win tonight gives them a good shot, I think against the Rockets," said Matt Steinmetz, a sportstalk host on 95.7 The Game. "A loss tonight, they have to play Friday. And if they win, they have to play the number-1 seed, the Oklahoma City Thunder. That's not the route they wanna go and that's not the more favorable route under any conditions."

The Warriors and Grizzlies had previously met in a play-in game in 2021. Memphis won that affair, 117-112 in overtime.

The Dubs have lost their last three home games at Chase Center and are 0-3 in the play-in games.

Tip-off is at 7 p.m. and  all Dubs in attendance will receive a free Warriors T-shirt.

If Golden State wins tonight, they will face the 2nd-seeded Houston Rockets in the first round. A loss would mean the Warriors would host another play-in game, this time between the winner of a game between the 9th seed playing the 10th seed. 

Jesse Gary is a news and sports reporter based in the station's South Bay bureau. Follow him on the Instagram platform, @jessegontv and on Facebook, @JesseKTVU.