By Mark Haynes | Special to The OBSERVER
It’s challenging to win 48 games in an NBA regular season. But winning a best-of-seven playoff series is even more difficult. That’s what the inexperienced Sacramento Kings are learning in their first-round matchup against the defending champion Golden Warriors.
Some things that work in the regular season simply don’t in the postseason, and Coach Mike Brown is doing his best to relay that message clearly to his team.
“These guys are the champions,” Brown told reporters after Tuesday’s practice. “You’re not going to be able to score a decision against the champions. When you drive into somebody’s body and you look for that contact, you’re trying to get a decision. You’re putting the win or loss in the referees’ hands. So we got to knock them out, which means we got to play the right way. If you’re going to drive it, you better freaking dunk it.”
Through the series’ first four games, the Kings have taken and made more free throws. Sacramento had shot 102 times from the line compared to the Warriors’ 92. It has resulted in two extra makes for the Kings.
The Kings lost the regular-season series to the Warriors 3-1. Now they are doing everything they can to prevent that from being their fate in the postseason. It’s the first time the Northern California franchises have met in the postseason, and it has been a physical, entertaining matchup that has drawn many celebrities. Retired boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., and rappers 50 Cent and E-40 are a few of the stars who’ve attended games in the series.
Game 6 is Friday, April 28, at Chase Center in San Francisco.