If I were a Kings fan, the one team I would want to avoid in the first round is the Warriors. I would rather play any team in the western conference than the Warriors at full strength, even the Suns. At least with the Suns, you know that any team with Chris Paul has at least a twenty percent chance of just outright choking. The gd lakers might be a 5-on-8 series, but you never know when Anthony Davis is going to separate his shoulder getting out of bed. Clippers won't necessarily choke, but they do have Westbrook, which can be just as good. And I'll never fear any team with Big Sawfty on it.
The Warriors haven't had their main five together for much of the season, but when they have their main 5, it's been the best 5-man unit in the league this season, on both ends. And, they're the one team in the western conference that you know isn't going to beat themselves; you've got to take it from them.
If I had to rank who I’d like to face in the 1st round it’d likely be:
- NOP
- LAC
- GSW
- LAL
- PHX
Pelicans don’t have a ton of playoff tested players and they don’t have a PF and/or C with great length (something I think Sabonis can struggle with a bit). I think Sabonis would be rather effective in this matchup. I like the Fox/McCollum on both ends of the court. I think having Barnes, Murray, Edwards, & Lyles can help slow down Ingram a bit.
Clippers have some solid playoff experience on their roster but George is out which makes me feel more comfortable facing them. I also think their iso ball centered offense will be easier for Brown to scheme for. They also don’t have anyone that I think can handle Sabonis.
Warriors could be a sleeping giant considering they won the championship last year. Especially with Wiggins coming back, Payton healthy, and their championship caliber core ready to lock in during the playoffs. Not to mention our home court advantage would feel largely mitigated by the amount of GSW fans that will be in attendance. Part of me also thinks we’d be playing against the refs in this one too. Having said that, they are getting older and they don’t have anyone at PF/C with great size and length to neutralize Sabonis. I think it’d be a tough matchup, but I don’t feel super worried about their players shutting down our stars.
Lakers worry me a bit due to ref bias, home court advantage being neutralized, and playoff Anthony Davis neutralizing Sabonis. Davis has the size, length, and the athleticism advantage over Sabonis which makes me worry about how impactful Sabonis can be in this type of matchup.
Suns just seem like a sleeper championship contender. A big 4 of Paul-Booker-Durant-Ayton is pretty hard to beat. If they had that roster from the beginning of the year and were relatively healthy, I would guess they would have been a top seed.