Do the Warriors and Sacramento Kings have a rivalry? Steph Curry and Klay Thompson have different opinions.
Immediately after Golden State's 122-114 win over Sacramento on Friday at Golden 1 Center, Curry joined the ESPN broadcast crew for an on-court interview where he was asked what it's like to have big games in Sacramento after previously scoring 50 points in Game 7 of the first-round playoff series last season.
"It's a great ... I wouldn't call it a rivalry but it's great familiarity knowing a team, how many times we've played them over the last two years, preseason, four times in the regular season and obviously seven games in the playoffs last year," Curry explained. "We've already played them three times this year [including two preseason]. So you get to know them.
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"They are a tough team, young, super talented obviously. [De'Aaron Fox], you know what he can do and this environment is pretty hostile. So you love to play well, especially on the road, silence the crowd and get a big win for us. Because I don't know if people remember, but it took us 14 games or something like that to win a road game to start the season. So to get our first one is a big deal."
So Curry does not believe the Warriors and Kings are rivals. But what does his fellow Splash Brother believe?
In speaking to reporters after the game, Thompson was asked if this game felt different after the two teams met in the playoffs last season and if it feels more like a rivalry.
"Definitely," Thompson said. "It feels like they've arrived. I mean, for a lot of my career they were in a rebuilding phase but now they have an identity. We respect them and they're a very good team and they have a ton of talented players. So a team you can't sleep on obviously. Definitely a divisional rival. Just the Northern California proximity and being in the same division."
Golden State Warriors
It's not often that Curry and Thompson are not aligned, but if you were to look at the box scores after each of these matchups, it's clear that one is having an easier time against the Kings than the other.
Regardless of how they each define the battles on the court, it's obvious that both the Warriors and Kings look forward to these matchups.