The Golden State Warriors' title defense has not gone to plan, and with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season they are still fighting just to secure a top-six seed in the Western Conference and an automatic playoff berth. But while they still have some work to do to get in, Draymond Green is already looking ahead to the postseason.
During the latest epside of his podcast, Green explained why the Warriors want to play the Sacramento Kings in the first round.
"I'm not upset at if the standings shook out how they did today and we met Sacramento in the first round," Green said. "Not because I think Sacramento is a weak team, because the travel is so much easier.
"The reason why I said Sac is simply just because of the travel. That's a lot on your body. If we can bus ride an hour and 10 minutes up the way, I just think that's much better for us. At the end of the day, I don't really care who we play in the playoffs, I think we can win."
As Green noted, the Warriors had a grueling playoff run last season en route to their fourth title in eight seasons. They played the Denver Nuggets in the first round, which meant dealing with the altitude, then had to go all the way to Memphis to face the Grizzlies in the second round, and were matched up with the Dallas Mavericks for the Western Conference Finals. Lastly, they went all the way across the country to take on the Boston Celtics in the Finals.
Those flights and miles start to pile up, especially as you get into the latter stages of the playoffs when games are played every other day and you have to make the journey back and forth between cities multiple times in a series. There's no question that a trip to Sacramento -- about 90 miles from San Francisco -- would be much easier for the Warriors.
At the same time, the travel likely isn't the only reason the Warriors might fancy a matchup with the Kings. While the Kings have been an incredible story this season, they don't play any defense and have nowhere near as much playoff experience as the Warriors. Green and Co. would definitely take their chances against the young squad.
Of course, there's a long way to go before any playoff matchups are determined in the West. The Kings are likely going to be the No. 3 seed, but the Nos. 4-11 seeds are separated by just 3.5 games. Entering Tuesday's slate of games, the Warriors are in seventh at 39-37 -- the same record as the No. 6 Minnesota Timberwolves, who own the tiebreaker between the clubs.
The good news for the Warriors is they have an easy schedule down the stretch that features games against the New Orleans Pelicans, San Antonio Spurs and Portland Trail Blazers. They could very well jump back into the top six, and perhaps even as high as fourth if they get some help.
