Yet another eagerly awaited NBA playoff series is the one between the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings. As we all know, these two teams arrive at the postseason on a completely different note, which will ultimately make the series much more interesting and harder to predict. Who is more likely to win the series?
Sacramento Kings.
Having their best NBA season in 16 years, the third-seeded Kings have more advantages on paper ahead of the start of the series when compared to the Warriors. First and foremost, they have the best offense in the NBA, with a rating of 119.4. They can produce offensive chances in many different scenarios, thus making it harder for their opponent to develop defensive strategies. Their duo Sabonis-Fox is quite hard to compete against due to their unique yet complimentary style. Not to mention how effective their role players and bench depth are. Although they had a much more consistent regular season than Golden State, their lack of experience with playoff basketball will arguably be their biggest setback throughout the series, hindering their performance as a team, especially against the current NBA champions. It will all boil down to how quickly they adapt to this uncharted territory.
Golden State Warriors.
Despite going through a tumultuous regular season, the Warriors have rebuilt their confidence for the postseason. Facing such an offense-based team like the Kings, they, fortunately, count on different productive players on that side to counterattack what Sacramento is capable of. Curry, Thompson, and Jordan Poole must be consistent to surpass their opponents. Additionally, Kevon Looney is the only player on their roster able to compete against Sabonis due to their similar playstyle and rebound abilities. On top of that, Andrew Wiggins’ return may be sooner than expected, which can be the x-factor for the Warriors, especially on the defensive side, an aspect they have failed to dominate without him. On the contrary, their most notable setback in this series will be not having a home-court advantage against one of the most energetic fanbases in the league. Golden State held the FOURTH WORST away record in the NBA this season.
Prediction: Warriors win, 6-Game series.
The matchup of these two teams is pretty hard to predict, as it could really go either way, depending on how each team handles its setbacks during these first-round games. However, the defending champions can have a slight advantage in the series due to their experience, and advancing to the Western Conference semifinals will be up to them.
Text sources: lineups.com, nba.com, basketball-reference.com, statmuse.com
