By beating Portland on Wednesday night, the Kings have officially secured their place in the Playoffs, thus ending 16 seasons of drought. Mike Brown’s men should finish third in the Western Conference and might thus face Golden State (sixth). Which would suit the big mouth of the Warriors Draymond Green perfectly.
Finishing in sixth place is the main objective of the defending champion at the end of the regular season. Not only to avoid the play-in tournament, in which all scenarios seem possible (remember 2021, when the Dubs were eliminated), but also to be able to face the Sacramento Kings in the first round of the Playoffs.
Why the Kings?
Non, it’s not because the Warriors view Sacramento as a weak opponent. The real reason lies elsewhere, as Draymond Green explains on his podcast.
“Our travels will be so much easier if we meet Sacramento. Last year, on our way to the title, we had to go to Denver, it’s a 2 hour flight to play at altitude. Then, Memphis, it’s almost 5 hours of flight. […] Then Dallas, 4h flight, and finally 6h15 to go to Boston. It’s very tiring.
The only place you can get to in a 45-minute flight is Sacramento. If we can save time when traveling, it’s better for us.”
Of course, this also applies to the adversary, but Golden State will likely never have home-court advantage in these 2023 Playoffs given their place in the regular season. So if there is, for example, a Game 7 to play in the first round, the Warriors prefer to play once morest the local team than to travel to Memphis or Denver. Physically and in terms of preparation, it’s not quite the same. And then it will also allow the Dub Nation to come in large numbers to encourage the defending champion on the move, even if the Golden 1 Center in Sactown promises to be super noisy for the Kings’ big comeback in the Playoffs.
Draymond Green explains why Warriors would want to face Kings in NBA playoffshttps://t.co/pjmskyuCZH
— CBS Sports NBA (@CBSSportsNBA) March 28, 2023
We don’t want to put words in Draymond Green’s big mouth, but we also imagine that the Warriors prefer to play the Kings than the Suns (currently fourth in the West) in the first round, having just recovered Kevin Durant from his ankle injury. Phoenix has the stars and the experience to try to play the title, while the Sacramento team – despite a magnificent regular season – will arrive in unknown territory, the complete opposite of the Warriors.
So many reasons to stay sixth for Golden State, which will face in the coming days San Antonio, Denver, Oklahoma City, Sacramento precisely, and finally Portland to complete the regular.
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Source texte : The Volume
.@Money23Green wants Sacramento in the playoffs but not for the reason you think pic.twitter.com/cBtVFSuRWH
— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) March 27, 2023
