Kings coach Mike Brown looks ahead to the NBA playoffs, and is excited for his team to experience it.
It’s official. The Kings will face their Northern California neighbors and the defending champion Golden State Warriors in the playoffs for the first time in NBA history.
The Kings (No. 3 seed) will host the Warriors (No. 6 seed) at Golden 1 Center for the first two games of the first-round playoff series. It will be the first postseason games ever played at Golden 1 Center and the first time Kings fans can root for their team in the playoffs since 2006.
Golden State, however, is no stranger to the postseason. The Warriors will make their ninth playoff appearance in the last 11 seasons.
And that’s what this matchup is being previewed and highlighted as. The newcomers versus the vets.
The Kings, though, are just looking forward to an exciting series.
“Man, it’s going to be a great matchup,” Kings forward Harrison Barnes told The Sacramento Bee’s Jason Anderson following a 109-95 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Sunday at Ball Arena. “We play similar styles, so it’s going to be an up-and-down series.
“I think for us it’s a matter of just focusing on a lot of things that we talked about this season, but it’s going to be a great experience for our group for us to up our level of physicality and up our attention to detail as we start our journey in the postseason.”
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Barnes knows a thing or two about coach Steve Kerr and the Warriors. The 30-year-old was drafted by Golden State as the No. 7 overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft.
The 12-year pro spent four seasons with the Warriors where they made it to the playoffs every year and won one NBA championship in that timeframe.
But Barnes isn’t the only one familiar with the Warriors. Coach Mike Brown, who leads this year’s NBA Coach of the Year race, was an assistant in Golden State for six seasons. When asked what it means to face his former team in the postseason, Brown kept it simple.
“Short commute, that’s about it,” Brown said. “I’ve still got a place down there, so I might swing by and check on that. That’s about it. It doesn’t matter who we play, just like I’m sure with the rest of the teams, it really doesn’t matter who they play.”
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Brown's been a big part in shifting the culture in Sacramento. While it's been a while since the Kings have been in the playoff picture, Brown is helping this team stay ready.
“We’ve just got to prepare now,” Kings All-Star center Domantas Sabonis told Anderson. “We have a week to get ready and we know we have homecourt advantage, so that’s definitely big. We’re going to prepare and do the best we can to be as ready as possible.”