The Golden State Warriors’ title defense didn’t go according to plan and with less than two weeks left in the regular season, they’re still battling for a top-six finish in the Western Conference and an automatic playoff berth. But while they still have some work to do to get in, Draymond Green is already looking ahead to the postseason.
During the latest episode of his podcast, Green explained why the Warriors want to play the Sacramento Kings in the first round.
“I’m not mad if the standings shook like they did today and we met Sacramento in the first round,” said Green. “Not because I think Sacramento is a weak team, because traveling is so much easier.
“The reason why I said Sac is simply because of the travelling. That’s a lot of your body. If we can ride the bus for an hour and 10 minutes, I think that’s just much better for us. At the end of the travel day, I don’t really care who we play against in the playoffs, I think we can win.”
As Green noted, the Warriors had a grueling playoff run last season en route to their fourth title in eight seasons. They played the Denver Nuggets in the first round, which meant dealing with the height, then had to go all the way to Memphis to take on the Grizzlies in the second round, and were paired with the Dallas Mavericks for the Western Conference finals. Finally, they went across the country to face the Boston Celtics in the Finals.
Those flights and miles start to add up, especially as you get into the final stages of the playoffs when matches are played every other day and you have to travel back and forth between cities several times in a sequence. There’s no question that a trip to Sacramento — about 90 miles from San Francisco — would be much easier for the Warriors.
At the same time, travel probably isn’t the only reason the Warriors are up for a matchup with the Kings. While the Kings have been an incredible story this season, they don’t play defense and don’t have nearly as much playoff experience as the Warriors. Green and Co. would certainly take their chance against the young squad.
Of course, there is still a long way to go before playoff matchups are determined in the West. The Kings will likely become the No. 3 seed, but the Nos. 4-11 seeds are separated by only 3.5 games. Going into Tuesday’s series of games, the Warriors are seventh at 39-37 — the same record as the No. 6 Minnesota Timberwolves, who own the tiebreaker between the clubs.
The good news for the Warriors is that they have an easy schedule with games against the New Orleans Pelicans, San Antonio Spurs and Portland Trail Blazers. They could very well jump back to the top six, and maybe even fourth if they get some help.