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Two teams battling for playoff position in the Western Conference meet when the Golden State Warriors host the Sacramento Kings on Thursday.

The Warriors entered Wednesday holding the sixth seed after winning 12 of their last 14 games, while Sacramento’s hopes of a top-six finish are fading fast. The Kings are in ninth place, 3 1/2 games behind Golden State.

Golden State has been trending upward since trading for Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat on Feb. 6. He had 15 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds in a 130-120 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday.

Butler has been a perfect fit with his new team, helping the Warriors go 9-1 since the All-Star break.

“I think it’s everything that I expected,” Butler said. “Everything that I actually dreamed of, too, if I’m being brutally honest. They just want to win. There ain’t no individual goals here. They don’t care who scores, they don’t care who gets triple-doubles. None of that. All I want to do is win a championship.”

Gary Payton II scored a career-high 26 points and Stephen Curry added 24 for Golden State, which is expected to have forward Jonathan Kuminga back in the lineup on Thursday.

Kuminga has missed 31 straight games with an injured right ankle and will be on a minutes restriction as he eases back into action. Guard Brandin Podziemski will miss his third straight game with low back soreness.

Golden State’s lack of size near the basket might be viewed as a weakness, but Butler said it could be an advantage.

“We are faster than a lot of teams,” Butler said. “We have a lot of high-level IQ guys, but we do not use (the lack of size) as an excuse. We are expected to win. No matter who is in the lineup, no matter how tall anyone is, we are expected to win. We have been doing that lately, and I have a feeling that we will continue to do it.”

The Warriors have lost two of this season’s first three meetings against Sacramento, which is looking to bounce back after losing 133-104 to the visiting New York Knicks on Monday.

New York shot 53.6 percent from the field and led by as many as 35 in the fourth quarter.

“They just outworked us, came in and were out-physical-ing us,” Sacramento guard Malik Monk said. “They just punked us tonight. We didn’t get any loose balls. They were beating us to every loose ball. They just outplayed us tonight.”

Monk returned after missing three games with a sprained right toe and scored 21 points, while Zach LaVine added 17.

Center Jonas Valanciunas had 10 points and 13 rebounds in place of Domantas Sabonis, who is questionable after missing the last five games with a strained left hamstring.

The Kings welcomed two days off after losing both ends of a back-to-back. Sacramento fell 111-110 in overtime to the host Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday before struggling to keep pace with the Knicks.

“We can look for excuses,” Valanciunas said after Monday’s loss. “We can look for reasons, but it’s on us. It’s on us tonight. It was embarrassing. We didn’t come out with the energy. We didn’t play our game, so we’ve got to be better. Simple as that. I know it’s not easy to do, but we have to find our energy, find our style of play and be better.”

–Field Level Media