Updated April 24, 2:11 p.m.
The Sacramento Kings are currently tied with the Golden State Warriors 2-2 in the first round of the NBA playoffs. It took 16 long years for the team to return to the postseason arena — the last time the Kings qualified for the playoffs was in 2006 — and fans are bursting with long-overdue excitement.
But some onlookers — many of whom are not Kings fans — have expressed shock that the team has fared so well thus far. Before the series started, oddsmakers at FiveThirtyEight gave the Kings an 18% chance of beating the Warriors, NorCal rivals and defending champions. Now, four games into the series, that chance has shot up to 30%.
The series has been rife with headline-dominating drama so far, and there’s at least two games left before one team proceeds to the next round of the playoffs. Here’s what you need to know ahead of the next two games in the series. Game 5 will be played on Wednesday at the Golden 1 Center, with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m. Teams will return to San Francisco for Game 6 on Friday, and a tip-off time has not yet been announced.
Cowbells prohibited at Game 6
Kings fans making the drive to San Francisco for Game 6 of their playoff series should leave their cowbells at home.
Team officials warned fans last week that cowbells will not be permitted in the Warriors home arena, the Chase Center, and fans trying to bring them in will be forced to leave them at the outdoor bag check location.
Cowbells have been prevalent at Kings games since former Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson called Sacramento a “cow town” two decades ago, which prompted fans to bring the noise makers to games during showdowns with the Lakers.
There were some cowbells at their home games at the Golden 1 Center for Games 1 and 2, though not nearly as many as during the heyday of the 2002 Western Conference Finals against the Lakers.
Watch parties in Sacramento
Tickets to Wednesday’s Game 5 at the Golden 1 Center have long been sold out, though tickets on secondary market websites like StubHub are starting at around $230 as of April 24.
And though it’s hard to beat the energy that Kings fans bring for home games, the team is hosting a watch party for Game 6 — which will be played in San Francisco — inside the Golden 1 Center. Tickets are free, but in order to secure a seat, fans must reserve their spot ahead of time. Space inside the arena is also limited, and seats are going quickly.
Fear not, Kings fans: Cowbells are allowed inside the Golden 1 Center.
The team itself isn’t the only organization hosting celebratory events: TipsyPutt in the Downtown Commons shopping center — flanking the Golden 1 Center itself — hosts watch parties for all playoff games, both home and away.
If you’re more inclined to celebrate the team’s success in the comfort of your own home, several Sacramento businesses have launched Kings-related fare to help you out: Bike Dog Brewery released a Beam Team West Coast IPA, Moksa Brewery released a Playoff Beam IPA and Leatherby’s released a Beam Team shake, complete with a purple glow stick perched on top.
The stomp heard around the world
Confrontation hasn’t just occurred between fans: In Game 2 of the series, Kings center Domantas Sabonis fell and grabbed Warriors player Draymond Green’s leg in the process — a move which is not allowed, per NBA guidelines — causing Green to lose balance and stomp down on his chest. Green was subsequently ejected from the game; Sabonis was issued a technical foul and continued playing.
In a postgame interview, Green said he had to land his foot somewhere, but some argue that the stomp was “dirty." On Wednesday, NBA officials announced that Green is suspended from playing in Game 3 on Thursday night.
Kings officials previously listed Sabonis as “questionable” for the same game, citing bruises on his chest which were sustained during the incident, but have since listed him as a starting player.
The move to eject and then subsequently suspend Green has dominated discussion in both sports headlines and basketball-related social media spaces, and (mostly non-Kings) fans are divided on whether the NBA made the right call.
E-40 ejected from Game 1
During the first game in the series, held at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento on Saturday night, Bay Area rapper and entrepreneur Earl “E-40” Stevens was ejected from his courtside seat by Kings security. Stevens said in a statement that he was heckled throughout the game and addressed one heckler "in an assertive but polite manner” before security guards came and ordered him to leave the arena.
"Unfortunately, it was yet another reminder that — despite my success and accolades as a musician and entrepreneur — racial bias remains prevalent," he said in the statement on Saturday. "Security saw a disagreement between a Black man and a white woman and immediately assumed that I was at fault.”
On Thursday morning, Stevens and the Kings organization released a joint statement, explaining that the ejection was a “miscommunication.”
“After a series of thoughtful and transparent conversations, both parties agree that there was a miscommunication regarding circumstances that occurred during the Kings vs. Warriors game on Saturday night,” the statement reads.
Mike Brown, De’Aaron Fox honored with NBA awards
When he was introduced last June as coach of the Kings, Mike Brown didn’t make any grand proclamations or wild predictions.
“One of the main reasons I was brought here,” Brown said that day, “was to bring some leadership.”
Ask around, and no coach did a better job leading this season than Brown. He was announced Wednesday as the unanimous winner of the NBA’s Coach of the Year award, an easy call after his first season in Sacramento saw the Kings make the playoffs for the first time since 2006. All 100 voters from a panel of reporters and broadcasters had Brown atop their ballot.
“These honors don't come around often so you're very appreciative of them,” Brown said on the TNT broadcast of the announcement. “I'm really appreciative of being in Sacramento. The fans, the city has been fantastic.”
And Brown’s victory wasn’t the only major milestone for the team this week: De’Aaron Fox was announced Tuesday night as the inaugural winner of the NBA’s clutch player of the year award.
Clutch games are defined by the NBA as those where the margin between the teams is five points or less at any point in the final five minutes, and Fox led the league with 193 clutch points this season.
“You can’t be afraid to fail,” Fox said on the TNT broadcast of the announcement. “Obviously, you’re not going to make every shot, but my teammates, my coaches, they put me in position to succeed. So the least I can do is have confidence in myself to take good shots.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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