Good things come for those who wait.
And boy, did the Warriors wait.
This was anything but a standard campaign for the once-dominant Dubs. No, this season, they used all 82 games of the regular season to clinch a spot in the NBA playoffs.
At least they didn’t wait long to complete the job in Sunday’s regular-season finale.
The Warriors posted the highest-scoring first quarter in NBA history, 55 points, to open a no-doubt 157-101 win over the Blazers Sunday in Portland, Ore.
The win clinched the Western Conference’s final playoff spot for the Warriors.
Yes, the Warriors were the last team in.
But that’s precisely where they wanted to be.
The Warriors’ reward for making the playoffs — and avoiding the NBA’s play-in tournament — is five days off and a first-round matchup with their Northern California rivals, the Sacramento Kings.
That’s rest this Warriors team desperately needed and the opponent they wanted to play all along.
The reason the Warriors wanted to play the Kings isn’t animosity. No, sir.
The Dubs are big fans of the Kings, who made the playoffs for the first time since 2006 by emulating the Warriors. There are too many former Warriors on the Kings’ payroll to count. It’s all love there, even if that all is pushed to the side now that the Warriors’ “real season” is here.
The Warriors wanted to face the Kings because the Golden State veterans are old and tired, and for Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson, making the playoffs took more of a toll than usual.
When you’ve been in the league and played as many playoff games as long as the Warriors’ Hall of Fame trio, you look to work smarter, not harder.
And playing Sacramento provides two advantages no other first-round opponent could offer: proximity and naivety.
It’s 85 miles from the Warriors’ San Francisco home, Chase Center, to the Kings’ downtown arena, Golden 1 Center.
For the Warriors, that means they can skip the plane and take an easy bus ride to the capital.
Well, as easy as any ride on I-80 can be.
And while the Warriors’ domain is the postseason, it’s uncharted territory for the Kings.
Yes, some Kings came to Sacramento with playoff experience, but as a team, they’re untested. The Warriors love teaching teams like the Kings how different the game is in the postseason.
This would be an appropriate place to remind the Warriors, who were giddy upon learning their fate Sunday, to be careful what they wish for.
The Kings posted the greatest offensive season in NBA history this campaign, averaging 119 points per 100 possessions.
But going into Sunday’s game, the alternative for the Warriors was playing in the double-elimination play-in tournament this upcoming week or playing Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns — the oddsmakers’ favorites to win the Western Conference — in the first round.
So yes, the Warriors should consider themselves lucky they pulled the Kings.
Still, the Warriors head into the postseason in a strange place. Fitting, considering how strange Golden State’s regular season was.
The Warriors’ preseason featured a trip to Japan and, upon return stateside, Green punching Jordan Poole in practice.
The regular season featured a steady stream of injuries, absences, and head-scratching losses.
Even the highs of the regular season seemed muted compared to those of years past.
But the Warriors’ eyes were always on April and these upcoming playoffs.
The motto was simple: just get in, and Curry, Thompson, and Green would take care of the rest. The trio has not lost a Western Conference playoff series since coach Steve Kerr took over in 2014.
But the Dubs just barely got in. They were the last team to qualify for the playoffs — the No. 6 of 6.
At the same time, they are no underdogs.
This team’s experience proceeds them. They are the defending champions and raisers of four banners, after all.
And if you squint hard enough, you might see that this team has played its best basketball over the last few weeks.
Add last year’s playoff hero, Andrew Wiggins, back into the mix (he was away from the team with a family issue since February but is set to return for Game 1 in Sacramento), and the Warriors face fans with a fascinating dilemma:
The Warriors’ regular season gave you every reason to bet against this team.
But now the playoffs are here, and this team looks much better under bright lights.
But was it all a long con? Did they sandbag the league for the last six months?
It’s hard to say they didn’t.
We’ll find out the truth about these perplexing Warriors starting Saturday.
