(KTXL) — There will be an Interstate 80 battle in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
The Sacramento Kings are playing the Golden State Warriors in their first playoff appearance in 16 seasons.
Games 1 and 2 will be played at the Golden 1 Center with the first game of the best-of-seven series taking place Saturday night.
The Kings are the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference while the Warriors are the No. 6 squad in the West.
Heading into the season, the Kings playoff drought was the longest in NBA history, along with having the longest active in U.S. major professional sports leagues.
Sacramento clinched its playoff berth on March 29 with a 120-80 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on the road.
Along with a playoff berth, the Kings clinched their first Pacific Division title this season for the first time since 2003.
As anticipation grows for the Kings’ first home postseason game since 2006, here’s what you need to know about their first round playoff series.
What is the playoff format?
The Kings will have homecourt advantage with the format of the first round being 2-2-1-1-1, meaning the Kings will host up to four games with the Warriors hosting the other three contests.
Games 1 and 2 will be at the Golden 1 Center with games 3 and 4 taking place at the Chase Center in San Francisco, the Warriors home venue.
If necessary, games 5 and 7 will be in Sacramento while Game 6 will be in San Francisco. In a best-of-seven series, the team that wins four games moves on to the next round.
Mike Brown’s history with the Warriors
The first round meeting includes Kings head coach Mike Brown on the sideline coaching against a franchise he served as an assistant coach for during its championship years.
Before being hired as the Kings coach last May, Brown served as an associated head coach on Steve Kerr’s staff from 2016 to 2022. During that time, the Warriors won the Finals in 2017-18 and 2022.
When hired, Brown became the 21st head coach in the Sacramento era and the 11th since Rick Adelman, the last coach to lead the Kings to its last playoff appearance.
History between the NorCal rivals
While the Kings and Warriors play each other every year during the regular season, the first round series will be the first time the two Northern California squads will play each other in the playoffs.
It’s also the first time that both the Kings and Warriors have made the playoffs at the same time.
A matchup of high-scoring offenses
In the first-ever playoff matchup between the Northern California squads, the Kings and Warriors sport the top-two offenses in the NBA.
Sacramento has the top-scoring offense at 120.7 points per game while the Warriors are second with an average of 118.9 points.
How the Kings fared against the Warriors this season
The Kings last played the Warriors in the final regular season game at the Golden 1 Center on April 7 with the Bay Area squad coming out on top.
The Warriors took the season series 3-1 and here’s how the games went during the 2022-23 campaign.
Oct. 23, 2022
Warriors defeated Kings 130-125 at the Chase Center
Nov. 7, 2022
Warriors defeated Kings 116-113 at the Chase Center
Nov. 13, 2022
Kings defeated Warriors 122-115 at the Golden 1 Center
April 7, 2022
Warriors defeated Kings 119-97 at the Golden 1 Center
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