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The Golden State Warriors will look to get back on track on Thursday when they host the Sacramento Kings in Game 3 of the opening round of the NBA playoffs.
The reigning champions, who trail the series 2-0, are hopeful that their return to Chase Center for the third and fourth games of the series will allow them to turn things around and keep their title defense chances alive.
The Warriors are down 2-0 for the first time in the Stephen Curry era. But they have no reason to panic, given how experienced they are as a team with six NBA Finals appearances and four titles over the last eight years.
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Golden State Warriors confident they will come back from the 0-2 deficit
Ahead of Thursday's clash, the Warriors face the next two games as a "challenge" that they have to "embrace" and an "unfamiliar territory" they have to explore.
Draymond Green will be out following his one-game suspension after his ejection in Game 2, but said it will be "a lot of fun" to see how his team will react with its back against the wall.
“That’s exciting, all right? It’s a new challenge,” Green said after the Game 2 loss. “After the game I was thinking about that, thinking like, ‘Man, I think this is one we haven’t seen yet.’ We’ve conquered all the rest of them, so why not go conquer this one? It’ll be a lot of fun … a lot of fun.”
Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry echoed their teammate's thoughts and explained how the Warriors should deal with that deficit.
“It’s unfamiliar territory, but we’ve been down 3-1. We’ve been up 3-1. We’ve been through everything,” Klay Thompson said. “So, we rely on our experience and we take a great off day tomorrow and we recollect ourselves and do what we do, and that’s play well at home always.”
“You got to embrace it,” Stephen Curry said. “You do this as long as we have – whatever it is … 28 series or whatever. We’ve never been in this situation, so you got to stay together and stay locked in on things we need to do better. Embrace the challenge of protecting our home court which we’ve been great at all year.
“And at the end of the day, all we got to do is win one game here –somehow, someway – whatever game it is. You know the old saying, the series doesn’t start until somebody wins on the other team’s home floor.
"If (we) want to get ourselves back into it, it’s going to start with a focused effort in Game 3 at home. Get our crowd into it early and try to throw the first punch in terms of how to come out with the right intentions.”
The Warriors will not have an easy task turning things around, as Sacramento has played well on the road all season long.
The Kings had a better road record (25-16) than home record (23-18) in the regular season. Their road record was the best in the West and second-best in the entire league, tied with the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers. Only the Milwaukee Bucks had a better road record this season (26-15).
Despite the lead, NBA Coach of the Year Mike Brown still believes his team is the underdog and compared the series to an MMA fight.
“When you watch those championship fights, you have to take the belt from the champion, you’re not going to outpoint them,” Brown said. “We have to go out throwing haymakers.”
The Warriors have the third-best record in the league at home, having lost just eight of 41 regular-season games at Chase Center.
The Warriors will have to find a way to contain Domantas Sabonis and De'Aaron Fox, who lead the way offensively. If they limit them, they will have a great chance of winning Game 3 and getting back on track.
Sacramento relies a lot on Fox, the NBA's Clutch Player of the Year, who led all players in clutch points (points scored in the last five minutes of regulation and overtime) this season with 194. Fox also leads all playoff players in clutch points with 13 (eight in Game 1 and five in Game 2).
Per NBA.com, the Kings have outscored the Warriors by 14 points in eight clutch minutes, so Golden State has to improve its fourth-quarter defense to turn things around.
“De'Aaron Fox has made plays. You got to give Fox a lot of credit; that’s who he is. He’s up for a clutch award for a reason. That’s who he is. I don’t think it’s been a scoring issue. I think we scored down the stretch; we just haven’t gotten stops. I think it’s a defensive issue."
Thursday's Game 3 will be decisive for both franchises. If Golden State wins, the Warriors will stay alive and gain momentum heading into Game 4. If Sacramento wins, though, the Kings will put one foot in the semifinals, as it will be extremely difficult for the Warriors to make a comeback from an 0-3 deficit.
