The No. 6 seed Golden State Warriors and No. 3 seed Sacramento Kings will face off for the 2023 NBA playoffs’ first round starting on Saturday night.
Not only will it be the first time the two Northern California teams face each other in the playoffs, but the first time the two local teams have been in the playoffs in the same season since the Kings moved out west from Kansas City in 1985.
The series will open up at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento at 5:30 p.m. PT. The rest of the series schedule is unknown as of Sunday night.
“Everything that we’ve been through this season it’s nice to officially be in the playoffs with a week to prepare and get our minds and body right for it,” Steph Curry said. “The narrative, historical context of it all is just a part of this time of year and it’s awesome to know that we’re back in the fray and have an opportunity and hopefully get off to a good start.”
The No. 6 seed is the lowest playoff seed the Warriors have had since the 2013-14 season, when they lost to the Los Angeles Clippers in a seven-game first round showdown.
Golden State will aim to be the first team below the fourth seed to win a title since the 1995 Houston Rockets. And they have a little confidence they can do it as defending champions with that same core strengthened by a decade of playoff experience and success. Plus, they’ll meet a young Kings team in a spot they once were: full of young energy and short of experience.
“We can use last year’s success as a template for how to win,” Curry said. “It’s just a matter of if we can do it. And I know we can.”
Here are some keys watch in the first-round series:
Travel
Draymond Green made clear on a recent podcast episode that he’d prefer to play the Kings in a series.
Not because the Kings are a “weak team,” but because the Warriors road trip will require them to get on a bus for just over an hour ride up and down I-80.
“The reason why I said Sac is simply just because of the travel,” he said on the Draymond Green Show last month. “That’s a lot on your body. If we can bus ride an hour and 10 minutes up the way, I just think that’s much better for us. At the end of the day, I don’t really care who we play in the playoffs, I think we can win.”
About 90 miles separate San Francisco and Sacramento. Last playoffs, the Warriors’ shortest flight was 2.5 hours to Denver — which also came with the added difficulty of playing at high altitude. Then they had longer flights for series against the Memphis Grizzlies and Dallas Mavericks topped off with a cross-country Finals against the Boston Celtics.
Travel is taxing on the body, Green noted. And with several members of the Warriors’ core in their mid-30s, undoubtedly playing through various aches and bruises, easier travel can lighten the load.
Plus, an easy road trip could be helpful to the team with the worst road record (11-30) of any Western Conference playoff team.
“Don’t have to get locked into the road routine,” Curry said. “It’s nice to be back in your bed pretty quickly. It’s helpful… It doesn’t matter at the end of the day, we’ve been through it enough we know how to adjust. But it is helpful.”
The head-to-head
This series could be an offensive spectacle. The Warriors and Kings are both high-powered, flowing offenses.
That’s because Kings head coach Mike Brown, formerly a longtime assistant with Golden State, has implemented something similar to what the Warriors use.
Center Domantas Sabonis has taken on a role similar to Draymond Green as a facilitator. He’s a dribble-handoff machine and opens the floor to create plenty of looks for De’Aaron Fox and Kevin Huerter. Just like Green and Kevon Looney — and in the past, Andrew Bogut — has for Curry, Klay Thompson and other scorers that have come through Golden State over the years.
The Kings’ 119.7 offensive rating is the best in the league, placing them seven spots ahead of the Warriors and their 116.6 rating.
The Warriors could gain an advantage on the defensive side of the ball. The Kings’ 116.8 defensive rating is the worst among any playoff team in either conference. And while the Warriors aren’t a whole lot better — their 114.4 rating is 14th in the league — they have a history of locking in defensively in the postseason, and have some reinforcements that could give them a boost.
Gary Payton II may have lost some of his burst on offense, but he’s been impactful as a disruptor in the passing lanes and one-on-one since his return from injury two weeks ago. A force with Donte DiVincenzo on the perimeter with Green and Looney anchoring, the Warriors have jolted a bit defensively. And in those two weeks since Payton’s return, the Warriors’ 107.2 defensive rating is ranked first in the league over that span.
Payton could be crucial in helping to limit high-octane guard Fox.
There’s also Andrew Wiggins, whose timeline for his return to the court is still unknown, though it’s a hope that he will be ready for the first round. The Warriors can get even stronger if he can play defense to the level he played at last postseason.
Source: www.mercurynews.com