The Sacramento Kings took a 2-0 lead in their first round matchup against the defending champion Golden State Warriors on Monday night. But the stomp seen round the world is dominating the headlines and it reveals a serious crack and vulnerability in the champs.
With the Kings up 91-87 with 7:04 remaining in the fourth quarter, after a Kings shot attempt and Warriors rebound, Kings’ center Domantas Sabonis falls to the ground amid the rebound scrum and brings his arms around his head. The Warriors’ Draymond Green’s leg is wrapped up by Sabonis’ arms and as Green pulls his leg out to run down the floor on offense he stomps violently on Sabonis’ chest.
Sabonis was assessed a technical foul and Green a flagrant foul penalty two and was ejected from the game.
The series of events that happen next reveal just where the defending champs are mentally and what they realize is happening.
The NBA is apparently letting them off the hook easy. Per @ShamsCharania, the glue to the Golden State Warriors’ entire style of play and the demonstrative heart and soul of the team, won’t be suspended.
Green And The Warriors Are Feeling Desperate
First the act itself. That it involves Green shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that watched NBA basketball.
He’s a terrific player but he often pushes up to and over the line as a way to intimidate opponents, fire up his teammates, and frankly fire up himself.
But he usually saves this type of behavior for late in the playoffs when his team really needs an edge to win a championship.
In Game 2 of round one against a supposedly inferior Kings team?
The Warriors know their time at the top is coming to an end. Like any old champ they want to hold on for as long as they can. But all the internal and external signs are there.
Age, contract uncertainty, friction between teammates.
Following the game Green and his teammates immediately went into victim mode and put the onus on Sabonis.
“My leg got grabbed — the second time in two nights — and the referee is just watching. I got to land my foot somewhere, and I’m not the most flexible person, so it’s not stretching that far. … I can only step so far with someone pulling my leg away,” said Green postgame.
If you watch the video Sabonis isn’t pulling Green’s leg. Green’s leg is inside Sabonis arms as they cover his head. As Green pulls his leg out that wasn’t a plant to run. Green legitimately stomped on his chest.
“What are you going to do when someone grabs your foot when you’re running full speed?” Klay Thompson asked rhetorically postgame.
Early in the game when the Kings went on a run and Warriors’ head coach Steve Kerr called timeout. You could see the Warriors’ looking over at the Kings nodding their heads mockingly as if to say “all right, yeah, y’all know what’s coming, we’re the champs.”
The Young Kings Didn’t Take The Bait
The champion response would come in the form of a run, but then the Kings would punch right back to open up the lead.
Not taking the Green bait was a sign of maturity for the young Kings.
“That brought us together,” Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox said. “We huddled up and were like, ‘We have to win this game,’ especially because everybody thought [Green] would be ejected. When that usually happens, that team comes together and goes on a run. We were able to negate that.”
During their initial dynasty run from 2015-2019 the Warriors were new and their style of play caught the league off guard. They had a wide margin for error because of their prolific ability to shoot threes and having an embarrassment of riches in talent (cough: Kevin Durant).
That margin for error no longer exists. The Warriors are older, less talent-rich and teams are not in awe of them anymore.
The Kings are a perfect example. They play at a faster pace and want to launch more threes from deep than the Warriors do. They’re younger and hungry for a taste of playoff success.
Down 0-2 and headed back to San Francisco, you can’t count the defending champs out. Games 3 and 4 will be the best effort from the Warriors thus far this series.
But unlike the Warriors, the Kings have been very good on the road all season. Their mission will be to knock the champs out and not give them any hope or signs of life.
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