Warriors hit the road for all or nothing play-in battle vs Kings

The beginning of the greatest playoff run in history commences now...or ends before it ever gets started.

Through continuous training and maintaining a steady work ethic, I always feel like there’s more I can achieve. That’s why each and every day, I do something to try and get better; to challenge myself; to learn more about the game; to make my teammates better.

— Steph Curry

Did we get better? That’s the question. Every day when we wake up in the morning until the time we lay your head down for rest, that question is the key to our improvement. Did we find a way to be better that day than the day prior?

Here’s another question for you: Did the Golden State Warriors get better from last year? Last season they were defending their 2022 championship, and struggled their way to a 44-38 record, a sixth seed, a desperate escape from the first round (more on that later), before wheezing out against the Los Angeles Lakers.

This season they’re 46-36 (that’s better!); a 10th seed trapped at the bottom of the play-in tournament (wait WTF). They were 21-20 at home (omg) and 25-16 on the road. That road split is pretty damn good, and a major improvement over their abysmal road record from last year:

The Warriors won 25 road games this season, more than doubling last season's total (11). The Dubs were one of six teams with at least 25 road wins, joining the New Orleans Pelicans (28), Boston Celtics (27), Los Angeles Clippers (26), Minnesota Timberwolves (25) and Dallas Mavericks (24).

So did they get better than last season after this 82-game slate of the 2023-2024 season? DID THEY? Well last year they made the playoffs…and now they’re in the play-in. And hey, guess what? SO ARE THE 9TH SEEDED SACRAMENTO KINGS!!!

Well well well. Very interesting considering there was a decent amount of hype in the offseason for the young and dynamic Kings, just ask Clutch Points:

The Kings were matched up with the Warriors in the 2023 NBA playoffs after they finished last season with a record of 48-34. Sacramento would tie the series at 3-3 with a Game 6 win in the Chase Center, but would fall in Game 7 despite a combined 38 points from Sabonis and Fox. The Kings re-signed forward Harrison Barnes and traded for guard Chris Duarte in the offseason. The Kings newest additions and returning faces alike must play key roles in pushing the Kings to another spot in the NBA playoffs.

“That's what we want. That's what we compete for,” Kings head coach Mike Brown said, via Andscape senior NBA writer Marc J. Spears. “We're already a good team. We're already a playoff team, and so we're competing for a championship just like everybody else. And the first thing that you have to do in order to attain anything in life is you have to believe in it.

“If you don't believe in it, it ain't going to happen.”

Cute. All that believing is just bringing them back to the wrath of Stephen Curry. But I’ll get back to that in a second too. Let’s take a moment to digest how the Kings ended up here, per an article in the Sacramento Bee entitled: “The Kings’ record is almost identical to last year. Why do fans this season feel disappointed?”.

…the charmed 2022-23 season, when fans basked in the unexpected glow of the startup Kings’ first winning record in 16 years. Yet despite similar results in 2023-24, this season has felt slightly underwhelming to many fans. Recent losses, injuries to key rotation pieces and a season-long difficulty finishing winnable games have tempered optimism heading into the play-in tournament.

The Kings finished the season 46-36 (.561), just two wins shy of the team’s total in 2022-23, when they finished third in a loaded Western Conference. This year, they limped into Sunday’s finale having lost five of their last six and fallen to the back end of the play-in tournament as the No. 9 seed, with a match-up against the Golden State Warriors looming Tuesday night.

Oh yeah that match-up is looming alright buddy. But back to Sacramento’s belief: didn’t the Kings believe last year when they were the #3 seed, up 2-0 on the Dubs in the playoffs, with home court advantage??? Do you remember??????

Oh I remember it well, as that’s when DNHQ banded forces and stormed into Chase Center for Game 3 to make sure the Warriors didn’t lose three straight, even though Draymond Green was suspended for booting Domantas Sabonis’ chest.

We all know how it ended from there: the series went 7 games, culminating with Steph’s 50-point closeout where he crushed Sacramento’s arena beam with extreme prejudice.

WOOOOOOO!!!!

Shut the lights off on em in Golden 1 Center with a raging resolve and gleeful arrogance of a dynastic machine rolling over yet another wannabe.

But the Kings surely learned from that upset right? They know they have to go even harder to extinguish the flickering embers of the Golden Empire’s dynasty. And they can’t take any chances with the Warriors reasserting their playoff mojo, which is probably why they made sure to meet the Dubs BEFORE the playoffs start.

The Kangz are in the play-in tournament, standing menacingly in front of the gates of the playoffs blocking Golden State’s path. I’m sure lots of Kings fans are telling themselves that this is fine, that this version of the Warriors team is more weakened than ever, and that it’s better to just get rid of GSW right now before they can squeeze some more juice out of Stephen Curry’s prime.

OH BUT THERE’S PLENTY OF JUICE LEFT FOLKS!

During the regular season these two teams met four times. The Warriors won the first two, and the Kings won the last two. It’s kinda crazy that the last three games were decided by one point, eh?

One thing to note: Curry averaged 31 PPG on 52.5% shooting from the field, and a red-hot 45.7% shooting from beyond the arc. He also never missed a free throw against them, which makes sense since he was the second most accurate FT shooter this year behind his Splash Bro Klay Thompson.

And his reign of terror didn’t just happen over the regular season; check out this preseason dagger hit hit to seal an exhibition contest and reactivate his terrifying Night Night celebration.

But, to be fair, the Kings did win the last two games. One of those losses back in January made me as annoyed as I’ve been in recent history as a Warriors fan:

That Curry turnover at the end was a stark reminder that even the Unanimous One is human. That kinda reminded me of the other game the Warriors fell to the Kings back in November, where late turnovers doomed the Dubs down the stretch…again.

Hmmmm. Maybe a big part of the reason the Warriors are a 10th seed at the bottom of the relevance heap is because THEY BLEW HELLA CLOSE GAMES THIS SEASON.

But maybe the Dubs learned from those mistakes and will galvanize around each other with the lessons they gleaned. Maybe, just maybe, they got better? Let’s ask former Warriors coach and current Kings head coach Mike Brown!

Interesting. Now I ask you Dub Nation, before what could be the last GSW game of the season. Did the Warriors get better?

P.S. are we sure the Kings didn’t get worse?