Warriors vs Kings Game 7 Preview: Will the Splash Bro’s Prevail and Extend Their Dynasty?

For the fifth time during the tenure of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Steve Kerr: the Golden State Warriors will play in game 7. The Warriors are 2-2 in game 7’s during their eight-year dynasty, which has included four NBA championships, a record-breaking 73-9 regular-season record, and much more.

Last time the Warriors played in a Game 7… ?

KD on the Warriors
Kyrie on the Celtics
Kawhi on the Spurs
LeBron on the Cavs
PG, Russ on the Thunder
AD, Boogie on the Pelicans
Harden, CP3 on the Rockets
B.I, Julius Randle on the Lakers
Jimmy Butler, Wiggins on the T-Wolves pic.twitter.com/KKIoOP74HB

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 29, 2023

The biggest factor that separates the Warriors and the Kings coming into this game 7 is playoff experience. Yes, the Kings are an incredibly talented group, but we’ve seen down the stretch in this series many unforced errors and mistakes that every young team makes in their first playoff run. The Kings had a 2-0 lead in this series and had a big opportunity to close out the series in games 3 and 4: only needing to take one win to achieve a 3-1 lead. On the other hand, the Kings came out in a must-win game 6 in San Francisco and executed the perfect game plan to blow out the Warriors.

Coach Brown said that Robbie Lemons (analytics coach) and Luke Loucks (assistant coach) "were probably the most adamant" about keeping shooters on the floor.

They played more Trey Lyles at the five tonight than they have all season and it worked wonders.

— Brenden Nunes (@BrendenNunesNBA) April 29, 2023

Mike Brown going small in the non-Sabonis minutes is the type of adjustment that can change the dynamic of a series.

Trey Lyles has been SO good as a backup 5. Pick-and-pop with Monk/Fox can stretch defenses + makes Looney cover a ton of ground on closeouts. pic.twitter.com/Ft6Gfpsyar

— y – Kings Film Room (@SacFilmRoom) April 29, 2023

Continuing the point on how important experience is heading into game 7, Draymond Green is someone who will most certainly play a boatload of minutes tonight. Jordan Poole’s massive struggles in game 6 were a big reason why the Kings ran away with the game in the second half. As well, the lineup of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, and Kevon Looney has proven to be lethal against the Kings.

The Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green and Kevon Looney lineup has played 36 minutes and 55 seconds together in this series.

They're a plus-18, outscoring the Kings 111-93 https://t.co/uHHXuk4TTO

— Dalton Johnson (@DaltonJ_Johnson) April 29, 2023

The Kings will have a home-court advantage tonight, which is not good news for the Warriors. The Warriors had the 4th worst away record in the NBA this season, going 11-30. As well, the Warriors have gone 1-2 in Sacramento so far this series. It will be a hostile atmosphere: especially because the city of Sacramento has been waiting 16 years to experience basketball at this level. On the contrary, it’s hard to think that Steph Curry, who seems to become a more valuable and better player every year will be knocked out in the first round of the playoffs by a team that hasn’t been on this stage in 16 years. Curry, along with his compatriots, has more experience in dealing with hostile playoff atmospheres than anyone other team in the league.

Klay has "absolute belief" the Warriors can win Game 7 in Sacramento pic.twitter.com/0de0OrejCj

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) April 29, 2023

It will be another legacy-defining night for Stephen Curry and the rest of his Warriors teammates. For the Kings, this game can define how legit their young core led by De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis really is.

It’s all to play for.

 

Betting Odds:

Kings: -120

Warriors: +100

Spread: SAC -1.0

Over/Under: 229

 

Written by Sam Cohen.