The Golden State Warriors have more work to do before clinching a spot in the playoffs. If the defending champs beat the tanking Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday, though, they’ll have survived a wild, up-and-down regular season to avoid the play-in tournament, finishing fifth or sixth in the Western Conference.
The LA Clippers will decide Golden State’s seed from there. As long as Ty Lue’s team takes care of business Saturday against the Blazers and beats the resting Phoenix Suns 24 hours later, the Dubs will be locked into sixth, due for a first-round matchup with the Sacramento Kings that Klay Thompson says would be “amazing.”
The four-time champion was asked his thoughts on that prospective I-80 battle between the Warriors and Kings after his team blew out a short-handed Sacramento squad on Friday night.
“That’d be amazing…That’d be special for Northern California,” Thompson said. “They’ve got great fans, we’ve got great fans. Mike B’s got them boys playing together and hard. That’d be really cool just for Northern California, which is a basketball hotbed at the moment. It would be nice for the travel; that would be really nice.”
His comments echo previous remarks from both Steph Curry and Draymond Green about a first-round clash with Sacramento being Golden State’s preference. It’s not just the Kings’ lack of postseason experience and subpar, scheme-limited defense that makes them the Warriors’ favored opponent, or even the playoff alternative of an epic meeting with Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns.
