One of the most interesting NBA playoff matchups should be in the Western Conference between Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors. Sacramento was the biggest surprise during the regular season as they had 48 wins, 34 losses and 3rd place in the Western Conference which ended their 16-season drought without playoffs. At the same time, I'm predicting that the Warriors will cover the handicap in the 1st game.

During the regular season, the Kings had the best offense (118.6), 24th-best defense (116) and 8th-best net rating. The bad defense is the main thing why I don't believe in Sacramento. Playoffs are a different breed, it's a much different basketball and you can't win games if you play bad defense. Yes, the Warriors struggled all season long, and they had a dreadful road record but let's look at their advanced stats: 10th-best offense (115.1), 14th-best defense (113.4) and 11th-best net rating (1.7). Despite the bad performance all season long, they weren't so bad overall.

The next reason why I'm going with the Warriors in this game is experience. Harrison Barnes is the only player on Sacramento's roster with a huge playoff experience. Matthew Dellavedova has also won a chip but he isn't part of the Kings' rotation. Neither D'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis are very experienced and we all know the story with Golden State. They won the whole thing a year ago and they have 4 titles in the last 8 years. The Warriors have won 21 out of 24 Game 1's in the last 8 years and this says a lot about them.

The Warriors have won 3 out of the 4 regular season matchups. Ok, last game we can't count because Sacramento was resting the most important players. The Warriors won both games at home and lost in Sacramento by 7 points. Andrew Wiggins will be back in the lineup and he's a huge part of the Warriors' basketball. The 1st game probably will be close but the Warriors should take care of the business.