Well, the NBA playoff pool is almost set. Outside of the teams that still need to go through the Play-in Tournament, other first-round matchups have already been settled. Notably, the Sacramento Kings will host the Golden State Warriors in one of the most exciting series yet.
This battle for Nothern California features one of the best teams in the West hosting the reigning NBA champions. Moreover, it’ll be a chess match between Steve Kerr and his former assistant Mike Brown.
Notably, as good as the Kings were throughout the regular season, Warriors star Klay Thompson recently admitted that they were also their preferred matchup, especially because of the travel schedule.
Klay Thompson Explains Why He Wanted To Face The Kings
“That’d be amazing…That’d be special for Northern California,” Thompson said, as quoted by ClutchPoints. “They’ve got great fans, we’ve got great fans. Mike B’s got them boys playing together and hard. That’d be really cool just for Northern California, which is a basketball hotbed at the moment. It would be nice for the travel; that would be really nice.”
Draymond Green Also Wanted The Kings
Unsurprisingly, Draymond Green also echoed the same sentiment a couple of weeks ago. The Warriors know how tough the schedule can get with all the traveling, so going to Sac-Town was a big relief for them:
“I’m not upset if the standings shook out how they did today, and we met Sacramento in the first round,” Green said on his podcast. “Not because I think Sacramento is a weak team but because travel is so much easier.”
“If you think about our road to winning the championship last year, it started with Denver, and then we went to Memphis,” Green added. “The travel that’s a lot on your body, and if we could take a bus an hour and ten minutes up the way then I think that’s much better for us.”
So, it seems like the reigning champions got exactly what they wanted. But just like the saying goes, sometimes you need to be careful what you wish for, as the Kings are no pushovers and will be a very tough matchup.
