Getty Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors.
With the NBA Playoffs right around the corner, members of the media are beginning to make their predictions. Well, the Golden State Warriors caught some strays on Thursday, when TNT’s Charles Barkley “Guaranteed” that the Sacramento Kings would make it out of the first round.
“The Sacramento Kings are going to win a playoff series,” Barkley said on TNT’s NBA Tip-Off on April 6. “Guaranteed! They’re going to be playing the Warriors or the [Los Angeles] Lakers, that’s a tough first-round series. They gon’ win a series.”
Sacramento has caught the attention of many this season, earning a playoff spot for the first time since 2006. They will finish at least third in the West, making it very possible that the see the Dubs in Round One.
Draymond Green Prefers Warriors Face Kings in Playoffs
While the NBA Legend, Barkley, guaranteed that the Kings would beat the Warriors if they win up in their postseason path, star forward Draymond Green his hoping to draw the Pacific Division champs in the opening round.
However, Green’s reasoning isn’t based on x’s and o’s, but rather miles. He cited the close proximity between San Francisco and Sacramento, as his reasoning for wanting to face the Kings.
“I’m not upset if the standings shook out how they did today and we met Sacramento in the first round,” Green said on the March 28 episode of The Draymond Green Show. “Not because I think Sacramento is a weak team, because the travel is so much easier … The only place we can fly and get to in 45 minutes in the Western Conference is Sacramento.”
Green then detailed why the short commute makes things easier on him and his teammates during a potentially grueling postseason.
“I said all that to say the reason why I said Sac is simply just because of the travel,” Green continued. “That’s a lot on your body. If we could bus ride an hour and ten minutes up the way like, I just think that’s much better for us.”
While he may prefer the Kings, Green made it know that he believes in the Warriors regardless of who they run into this spring.
“Now, Sac is playing well and very good team, but just from the travel, at the end of the day, I don’t really care who we play in the playoffs. I think we can win.”
Kendrick Perkins Picks Kings Over Warriors in Playoffs
Green’s confidence in Golden State isn’t something that’s been echoed around the league. Just last month, former NBA Champion Kendrick Perkins warned the Dubs of the Kings, saying that they’d “better stay the hell away” from their northern California counterparts.
“I’m going to say this right now,” Perk prefaced on the March 13 edition of ESPN’s First Take. “They’d better stay the hell away from the Sacramento Kings, because no matter how young that Kings group is, no matter how inexperience they be when it comes to the postseason, they have old souls… The Sacramento Kings are going to the Western Conference Finals. The Golden State Warriors, their championship days are over.”
“The Golden State Warriors, their championship days are OVER!”