The reigning champions are on the verge of getting dethroned. The Sacramento Kings have overcome all of the Warriors physicality and challenges to take a commanding 2-0 series lead, leaving the series in the balance as it heads down to San Francisco.
This is hands down the best, most exciting NBA playoff series so far.
I don’t think many people predicted that this series between the Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings, the two highest scoring, finesse teams in the regular season (Kings: 120.7 PPG; Warriors: 118.9 PPG), would end up being the most physical, intense battle, but here we are.
Both games have been utter slog fests as the defending champion Golden State Warriors have been pushed to their absolute breaking point against a young, hungry, and frankly naive Kings team that broke a 20+ year postseason drought for the franchise. Normally, a team in the Kings position would come into this series as deferential and passive against a team like the Warriors as GS is not only the reigning NBA champion with years of playoff experience, but the spotlight of the NBA’s most important stage takes time to get used to.
Yet, that hasn’t bothered this Kings team as they’ve been just as physical, tough, mentally strong, and ruthless from the field as the Warriors across the two games. Led by De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, and Malik Monk, the Kings have impressively averaged their 120 PPG against the Warriors, while Fox, Sabonis, and Monk have put up 20+ point super performances on multiple occasions.
In Game 1, Monk showed his veteran leadership (I know it’s crazy to say that about a guy who got slapped by Michael Jordan for costing his team points a few years ago back in Charlotte, but it’s true) by putting up 32 PTS, 3 REB, 2 AST, and a record-breaking 14/14 free throws in a game the Kings won 123-120.
And, in last game, Domantas Sabonis rebounded after posting just 12 points in Game 1 with a monster 24 PTS, 9 REB, 4 AST, and 67% shooting from the field (8/12) as he stomped (yeah, I’ll get to that moment in a minute) the Warriors back into their place as they nearly won the game with a late 3-point flurry.
Nevertheless, without a doubt, the greatest performance across the two games has been the Kings young, exciting, and frankly ruthless PG: De’Aaron Fox.
The Kings would be looking at a 0-2 series deficit if it was not for Fox’s heroics as he’s not only averaged 31 PPG (2 more than Steph Curry), 3 RPG (1 less than Andrew Wiggins), 7 APG (1 less than Draymond Green), and 3.5 SPG (2.5 more than Klay Thompson), but he’s also been the clutch leader of this team.
He was the one who assisted on Harrison Barnes’ late 3-point shot that made it a 122-116 game with under two minutes left in Game 1, while he was the one who made that massive 3-point shot (despite shooting just 2/10 from the arc the whole game) to make it a 107-101 game with a little over two minutes left in Game 2 to stop the Warriors late surge.
He’s honestly been the most consistent playoff performer this entire postseason, let alone this series, and has been the sole reason why the Kings are now within just two wins of knocking off the defending champions and ending the Warriors dynasty once and for all.
But, as I hinted at, that’s not going to be an easy task as even though the Warriors are down 2-0, they’ve been the far more physical and aggressive team.
Obviously, everyone saw Draymond Green (avg. 6 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 8 APG, 1.5 SPG) go absolutely insane last game with his stomp on Sabonis (which was provoked) and his resulting taunting of the Kings fans before his ejection, but it’s really been the whole Warriors team being aggressive on the Kings.
There’s been a lot of grabbing, hand checking, aggressive boxing out on rebounds, and lockdown guarding on every single Kings player. It’s obviously not been terribly effective as the Warriors were one of the league’s worst defensive teams in the regular season (gave up 117.1 PPG) and had a dreadful road record of 11-30, but their effort is definitely there and appreciated by us fans.
And ditto for the Kings as this series has undoubtably been the most entertaining across the board, even though it’s probably going to end quite soon as the Warriors have to win 4/6 to avoid elimination.
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