Warriors embracing ‘new challenge’ as they head home down 2-0 in series
vs. Kings
This is the first time the Warriors have trailed 2-0 in a playoff series
in the Stephen Curry era.
>Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30) reacts to a play against the
Sacramento Kings in the first quarter of Game 2 of the Western
Conference First Round playoffs, at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento,
Calif., on Monday, April 17, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
By MADELINE KENNEY | mkenney@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: April 18, 2023 at 4:30 a.m. | UPDATED: April 18, 2023 at 5:03
p.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/04/18/warriors-embracing-new-challenge-as-they-head-home-down-2-0-in-series-vs-kings/

SACRAMENTO — The Warriors find themselves in unfamiliar territory.

Golden State has trailed a playoff series before but never had the team
fallen 2-0 in any of its first 27 series with Stephen Curry, Draymond
Green and Klay Thompson leading the charge.

However, that’s the reality the Warriors are facing as the first-round
series heads to San Francisco later this week for Games 3 and 4.

“It’s exciting, right?” Green said Monday night as a menacing smile
appeared on his face. “A new challenge.”

Green was ejected in the fourth quarter of Monday’s 114-106 loss to the
Sacramento Kings after getting entangled with Kings big man Damontas
Sabonis. His premature exit gave him plenty of time to ponder the rarity
of his team’s situation.

“I was actually thinking about that, like, ‘Man, this is one we haven’t
seen yet,’” Green said. “And we’ve conquered all the rest of them, so
why not go conquer this one? Would be a lot of fun, a lot of fun.”

Curry and Thompson shared their fellow four-time champion’s sentiment.

“Gotta embrace it,” Curry said. “You do this as long as we have… 28
series or whatever and we’ve never been in this situation so we gotta
stay together, stay locked in on things we need to do better.”

The “things” Curry mentioned that impeded the Warriors in their first
two games of this best-of-seven series mirror troubling trends from the
regular season.

The Warriors turned the ball over on their first possession in both
games in Sacramento and committed a total of 37 turnovers in the first
two games of this season, including 22 in Monday’s loss.

They have also allowed the Kings to take 61 free throws — 16 more than
Golden State in this series.

Green has said all season long that it isn’t as simple as flipping a
switch and — poof! — the team’s problems are solved.

“Your issues are your issues,” he said after their latest loss. “You
have to work through them to figure them out.”

The Warriors know they need to be better at the point of attack if they
want to limit fouling on defense. Curry also said they need to do a
better job at controlling the game’s momentum early so the Kings don’t
have a chance to find their flow on offense.

“They’re young, athletic, they’re trying to play with force. We can
match that,” he said. “But we just got to play with a little bit more IQ
in terms of what we’re trying to do on both ends of the floor.”

In both games, the Warriors were in the fight down the stretch, though
the Kings ultimately prevailed.

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Despite the back-to-back losses, the Warriors see no reason to hit the
panic button just yet.

“The beautiful part is we have an opportunity Thursday,” Thompson said.
“While it’s been ugly the first couple of games as far as fouling and
turnovers, we can bounce back in a great way and I know we will.”

The Warriors have struggled on the road all season, winning only 11 of
their 41 away games this season. After failing to pick up a victory in
either of its first two tries in Sacramento, Golden State is hoping to
turn this series around in the Bay.

The Warriors do have a much better track record in San Francisco,
especially in the playoffs.

Golden State won 33 games at home this season and boasts an 11-1
postseason record at Chase Center. They know they will need to buck the
road trend at some point, though.

“At the end of the day, we gotta win one win here [in Sacramento],
somehow, someway, whatever game it is,” Curry said.

“There’s an old saying, the series doesn’t start until somebody wins on
the other team’s home floor. We want to get ourselves back into it, it’s
gonna start with a focused effort on Game 3 at home, get our crowd into
it early and trying to throw the first punch in terms of how we come out
with the right intentions.”

--
Madeline Kenney | Warriors reporter
Madeline Kenney is the Bay Area News Group's Golden State Warriors beat
reporter for The Mercury News and East Bay Times. A Nebraska native, she
is graduate of Loyola University of Chicago. She holds a Bachelor in
Communication degree, with a major in broadcast journalism and minors in
sports management and marketing, and is a friend of Sister Jean, the
103-year-old nun who became famous during the Ramblers’ 2018 run to the
Final Four, Madeline previously worked for the Chicago Sun-Times
covering everything from sports to crime and politics. When she’s not
working, she enjoys trying new restaurants and exploring the great outdoors.

Allen wrote:
> Warriors embracing ‘new challenge’ as they head home down 2-0 in series
> vs. Kings

Challenge accepted.

Smith