Fans of any team have waited longer for the playoffs.
It’s been 17 years. The Sacramento Kings are invited to spring basketball for the first time since 2006.
They made it to the playoffs as the third seed in the Western Conference, and beat the defending champion Golden State Warriors 126-123 in the first round of the first round held on the 16th (Korean time).
Obviously, Sacramento is a top-seeded team, but it felt like an underdog. Golden State has won the Finals four times in the past eight years.
Key players such as Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green are in good health, and Andrew Wiggins, who was absent due to family problems, also returned. Since the focus was on the finals, not the regular season, I didn’t pay much attention to seed rankings.
But the Sacramento players weren’t intimidated. As expected of the average scorer (120.7 points), he showed hot attack power.
In particular, the team’s ace, De’Aaron Pax, made a splendid playoff debut. As the fastest player in the league, he cracked the opponent’s defense by breaking through and confidently put in a mid-to-long jumper. In the second half alone, he scored 38 points, 5 assists, and 3 steals.
It is the second most points scored in a playoff debut in NBA history behind Luka Doncic’s 42 points. He also laughed in an ace match against Stephen Curry (30 points and 6 rebounds).
“There are no secrets in the playoffs,” said Sacramento coach Mike Brown.
Pax gave the ball to the fans. On this day, the Sacramento Golden 1 Center as well as outside the stadium were filled with home fans. “We showed real Sacramento basketball tonight. It’s all because of the fans. It’s all for the fans. We wanted to show what kind of team Sacramento is.”
The Golden 1 Center was hotter than any other stadium. The quadrant affected the performance of Sacramento players. Harrison Barnes admired, “It was really great. It was so loud that I couldn’t hear the conversation on the court. I got goosebumps when I ran to the crowd at the goal.” 토토사이트