Thompson: It’s Warriors-Kings — and everything that comes with it — in the first round

This one is for Mitch Richmond, whose name is synonymous with Golden State and whose No. 2 hangs in the rafters of Golden 1 Center.

For Chris Webber, forever etched in Warriors lore though his best days came in Sacramento.

For Matt Barnes, the Sacramento-area native and current Kings broadcaster whose fame was born on the “We Believe” Warriors and who won a ring with several players still on the roster.

For every Bay Area fan with a cousin or an auntie who moved to Sac, and every Capital City product who kicks it in the Bay. For every Warriors fan who got through the dog years of the 2000s by rooting for the Kings against the Lakers, and all the Kings fans who couldn’t resist buying a Stephen Curry jersey during the dynasty.

The Warriors took advantage of back-to-back road games against starless foes to avoid the Play-In tournament. After beating Sacramento on Friday, they took care of business in Portland on Sunday, blitzing the Blazers’ white-flag brigade, 157-101. The Warriors finished the regular season at 44-38, tied with the Los Angeles Clippers, who survived a nail-biter against Phoenix’s back-ups on Sunday. By virtue of a superior Pacific Division record, the Clippers get the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference and a first-round matchup against the No. 4 Suns. The Warriors get the No. 6 seed and a showdown with No. 3 Sacramento.

Thus, the Battle of Northern California is set. The line is drawn. Sides must be chosen. Cousins will face off.

Game 1 is Saturday, at 5:30 p.m. PT prime-time showcase on ABC.

“That’s more for everybody else,” Curry told reporters after the game, brushing off his first chance to play up the local rivalry. “I think for us, it’s understanding what it’s going to take to beat them four times and locking in on the task at hand. With everything that we’ve been through this season, it’s just nice to be officially in the playoffs — and with a week to prepare and get our minds and bodies right for it. The narratives and the excitement and the historical context of it all are just a part of this time of year. It’s awesome to know that we’re back in the fray.”

Hype aside, Curry does underscore the significance of this postseason, which is even greater than the first-ever postseason meeting between the Kings and Warriors. This could be the last time through for the core of the dynasty. Before the Moët dried on last year’s championship, the financial reality of this roster was ticking loudly toward expiration.

Draymond Green has a player option on the final year of his contract, so he has to decide if he wants to pick it up or become a free agent. The contract extensions of Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins kick in. The new collective bargaining agreement seems to punish the Warriors more for eating the luxury-tax bill. And Klay Thompson — who will make $43 million next season, the final year of his contract — is due an extension.

Warriors owner Joe Lacob has said the Warriors’ salary and tax bill for 2024, projected to approach $500 million, is untenable. The only way to make that price tenable is to make breaking up this core even more untenable. To do that, they must go on another run. A strong case could be made they have a favorable path.

Perhaps that’s why they played Sunday like they were on a mission. The teams behind them all struggled. The Clippers had their hands full in Phoenix with Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton in street clothes. The Lakers were at home but needed a late surge to ward off Kris Dunn-led Utah. New Orleans and Minnesota was a slugfest between play-in teams clawing for the No. 8 seed. Meanwhile, the Warriors’ game was over in the first quarter.

They put up 55 points in the opening 12 minutes, an NBA record for the first quarter. This was the same Blazers squad — playing without Damian Lillard, Jeremi Grant, Anfernee Simons and Jusuf Nurkić — that beat a few good teams down the stretch with its athleticism and nothing-to-lose moxie. But the Warriors made them look like a collection of cast-offs headed for vacation.

The Warriors shot 69 percent in the first quarter and totaled 18 assists on 20 made baskets. They made 12 3s, with Thompson and Poole combining for nine of them.

With 5:11 left in the first quarter, the Warriors called a timeout after a Skylar Mays 3-pointer. The Warriors were rolling offensively but, because of a few defensive miscues, they had just a 30-21 lead. It felt like one of the many games this year where they were a cold streak away from letting the opponent back in the game.

But they came out of the timeout and hit an offensive gear few teams have. Starting with a layup by Gary Payton II at the 4:57 mark, the Warriors scored 25 points over the next 4:39. Back-to-back 3s by Poole, the second set up by a Payton steal, were followed by a Curry 3-pointer at the 3:34 mark. The lead was up to 18 almost instantly. 

The Warriors took about a minute break from scoring, then went on another surge. A 14-4 run to close the quarter was capped by a Moses Moody 3-pointer, and then a Poole 3 put the Warriors up, 55-27.

Their offensive rating in the first quarter was 189.7.

They looked like a team eager to put the regular season behind them and get to the part where their value is supreme. This is what they do, what they live for, and what will determine their future.

“I was on a team that won 73 games,” Green said, “and we lost the final game of the season and no one talks about that team. So the moral of the story is it does not matter what you do in the regular season. You get to the playoffs and your team will be judged by how you do in the playoffs. No one will be talking about, ‘They won this many road games.’ No one will care. So we’ve just gotta go in and take care of executing the game plan, not making some of the mistakes that we’ve made throughout this regular season. Really being locked and focused. Understanding the road ahead and knowing what it takes will help.”

Obviously, cooking a lineup led by 19-year-old rookie Shaedon Sharpe and first-round flop Kevin Knox isn’t exactly impressive. But what matters in the context of the Warriors was their ability to impose their will. In the last game of the season, when they needed it most, the Warriors did the opposite of playing down to their competition. They obliterated inferiority.

The last time they had a first quarter like this, with stakes this meaningful, was also in Portland, in the 2017 playoffs. The Warriors were down by 16 midway through the third quarter of Game 3. But they erased it in four minutes and pulled out the win down the stretch, taking a 3-0 series lead. Golden State was motivated to sweep the Blazers and get the rest, and Durant was returning after missing Games 2 and 3. So the Warriors came out like the world-beaters they were.

The Warriors scored the first 14 points of the game, built a 35-9 lead over the first eight minutes and effectively ended the series in a blink. They won the first quarter, 45-22, in a flex of supremacy they summoned on queue.

The Warriors aren’t as mighty as they were back in 2017, and the 45 points against those Blazers were no doubt more impressive than the 55 against Sunday’s version. Still, it was a flex nonetheless. And the Warriors haven’t done much flexing over the regular season. In the regular-season finale, they finally looked like a team who knew how to put it all together.

This is certainly the scariest they’ve felt all season. Will that be true in the postseason against a much better foe? We’ll find out in a week. But the answer never looked more like a yes than it does now.

“We know there’s another level to get to and we’re gonna have to if we’re gonna win at the highest level,” said Curry, who finishes the season averaging 29.4 points on 49.3 percent shooting with 6.3 assists and a career-high 6.1 rebounds. He also got back over 40 percent from 3 (42.7 percent) after last season’s 38-percent aberration.

“In these last few games, it’s been weird because we played teams that are out of the race — or Sacramento was resting all their guys, and Portland’s out of the race. So the focus was just on how you’re playing and what you do to take care of those games. We’ve been locked in on two things that for us are going to dictate how we go into the playoffs. And that’s obviously taking care of the basketball and rebounding. I think our defense has been a lot better. Offensively, we have that high gear that we can get to but the biggest adjustment really is just the rotations. … We can hopefully rely on last year’s success as like a template for how we need to play. It’s just a matter of can we do it and can we do it consistently. I know we can.”

Their depth looks as if the lessons and lumps and patience have produced fruit. Donte DiVincenzo and Payton II have brought a new dimension with their menacing hustle. Jonathan Kuminga has become a staple. Poole might be playing his best of the season right now. And out of nowhere, Moody looks like a more than usable piece.

And the biggest reason to win Sunday, perhaps even bigger than avoiding the Play-In, was getting a week off to work Wiggins back in the mix. Going into the playoffs with their starting five potentially back together, their backups feeling confident, and their scheme intact — that’s a scary thought for the rest of the league.

Their reward is the talented and potent but, ultimately, most inexperienced team in the Western Conference playoffs. The Warriors have not hidden their desire to play Sacramento and enjoy the limited travel of a drive up Interstate 80. No flights are a nice perk for a franchise that’s played until June in six of the last eight seasons.

“That’s huge,” Green said. “We went to Memphis last year. We went to Dallas last year. Boston was far as hell. Denver was not an easy flight and definitely not an easy game to play in altitude. We had quite the travel schedule for the playoffs last year. To know that we’ll be starting off in Sac is huge. That travel starts to add up. Being that it’s a bus ride away, I think that’d be great for us. Hopefully, we can fill the stands with some Dubs fans.”

The Kings will require the Warriors to be locked in on defense and take care of the ball. The Kings are also exploitable on defense, always a good sign for the Warriors. One of the worst road teams in the league, the Warriors go into the series knowing they have to win at Golden 1 to advance. They have every reason to bring it.

This could be their last run if they don’t. And if they let their cousins up north end their run, they might never hear the end of it.

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Kevon Looney last sat out a game on March 20, 2021. He was inactive after being placed in health and safety protocols. Since then, he’s played in 217 consecutive games, including Play-In and playoff games.

He started and played 21 minutes Sunday, making him the 10th player in the West Coast era of the franchise to play every game in consecutive seasons. The last player to appear in every game for consecutive seasons was Antawn Jamison. He played 82 in three straight seasons from 2000-03.

Looney wasn’t alone this year. Poole also played all 82 games for the first time in his four-year career. He hasn’t missed action since catching COVID-19 in December 2021, knocking him out six games. Poole has played in 152 consecutive games, including playoffs.

Looney and Poole are the first teammates to play all 82 games since 2002-03. That year, Golden State had six play the entire schedule: starters Jamison, Jason Richardson, Gilbert Arenas and Erick Dampier, and reserves Mike Dunleavy Jr. and Adonal Foyle.

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It probably took Thompson longer to get to the arena than it did to get the five 3-pointers he needed to get to 300 for the season.

He opened the game with back-to-back 3s. His third came two minutes in. He got his fifth on a step-back at the 7:20 mark, joining Curry and James Harden as the only players with 300 in a season in NBA history.

“I pulled Klay aside two minutes before the game,” coach Steve Kerr said, “and I said, ‘I know you’re five away but just let it happen. You don’t need to chase anything, especially early in the game. Just get off the ball, let it happen in the flow.’ (He was) like, ‘OK, no problem coach.’ And then he made five 3s in the first five minutes. That’s Klay.”

3️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ THREES THIS SEASON FOR KLAY pic.twitter.com/RNu5CyPVzz

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) April 9, 2023

But the beauty from Kerr’s perspective, and the Warriors’ offense as a whole, was that they were good shots. Created by the offense. His hunting didn’t stop the flow and get the Warriors out of sync. He promoted good offense with good shots.

Thompson finished 6-for-11 from deep on Sunday and ended the season with 301 made 3s in 69 games.

Indiana’s Buddy Hield finished second with 288 made in 80 games, followed by Curry with 273 in 56 games.

“I think it’s cool I lead the league in 3s made,” Thompson said. “A testament to my hard work over the last few years.”

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What’s your vote for the drive of the game?

Option 1: This take-off from the dotted line by Kuminga, who nearly bumped his head on the ceiling.

MY GOODNESS JONATHAN KUMINGA.

📺: Live on the NBA App pic.twitter.com/9oddhRWT4i

— NBA (@NBA) April 9, 2023

Or Option 2: This hesi-cross, split-the-defenders drive by Poole that had Blazers crashing into each other. (Bonus point: watch for the taunt at the end.)

Jordan Poole is ridiculous pic.twitter.com/t7YrZrkDcX

— 🌧️ (@WatinForDaTrain) April 9, 2023

(Photo of Klay Thompson: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)