NBA Playoffs: Warriors, Nets heading home in 0-2 hole

The last timeGolden State faced a 2-0 series deficit, Stephen Curry wasfinishing his freshman year at Davidson and coach Steve Kerr wasstill in broadcasting.

It’s been awhile. It was 2007, to be precise.

But that’swhere the Warriors are again now, having droppedthefirst two games to the Sacramento Kings.Also in a 2-0hole: The Brooklyn Nets, who fell againtothe Philadelphia 76ers.Philadelphia simply held serve athome, as did Sacramento, but the pressure is now quite high on boththe Warriors and Nets.

Atlanta,Cleveland and Phoenix will look to avoid falling into 0-2 holes onTuesday.

WHAT'S NEXT?

A trio of Game 2’s await on Tuesday, with Atlanta at Boston,New York at Cleveland and the Los Angeles Clippers at Phoenix. TheCeltics, Knicks and Clippers will be seeking 2-0 leads.

Game 2’s inthe Los Angeles Lakers-Memphis, Miami-Milwaukee andMinnesota-Denver series are set for Wednesday.

KINGS-WARRIORS TENSIONS

GoldenState’sDraymondGreen was ejected for stompingon the chest ofSacramento’s Domantas Sabonis in Game 2 on Monday night — with someof the Warriors saying Sabonis committed the actual dirty play bygrabbing Green’s ankle.

Now the teamswill wait to see if the NBA will weigh in, with fines orsuspensions possible.

HOWTO WATCH

— Most gamesbeing played Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will be shownnationally on TNT. The exceptions are Hawks-Celtics on Tuesday,Heat-Bucks on Wednesday and Suns-Clippers on Thursday; they’ll allbe on NBA TV. There’s also local coverage for most games in Round1.

— Some gamesreturn to ESPN and ABC this coming weekend.

— The NBAFinals will be broadcast on ABC beginning June 1.

WHOWINS THE AWARDS?

We startedfinding out those answers on Monday, the first of four days ofaward-handing-out from the league office this week.

—Monday:Memphis’Jaren Jackson Jr. won defensive player of the year,withMilwaukee’s Brook Lopez finishing second and Cleveland’s EvanMobley placing third.

— Tuesday:The inaugural winner of the new Clutch Player award — Miami’s JimmyButler, Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan or Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox — willbe made known.

— Wednesday:Coach of the Year — Sacramento’s Mike Brown is the big favorite,with Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault and Boston’s Joe Mazzulla theother finalists — will be awarded.

— Thursday:Sixth Man of the Year will be revealed, with Boston’s MalcolmBrogdon, Milwaukee’s Bobby Portis Jr. and New York’s ImmanuelQuickley the finalists.

INSIDE THE DPOY VOTE

Only fiveplayers — Jackson, Miami’s Bam Adebayo, Golden State’s DraymondGreen, and Milwaukee teammates Giannis Antetokounmpo and JrueHoliday — got defensive player of the year votes both last seasonand this season.

Adebayo hasgotten at least one first-place vote in four consecutive seasons.That’s the longest active streak in the league.

Last year’stop three votegetters — in order, Marcus Smart, Mikal Bridges andRudy Gobert — got 63% of the votes in 2022. They combined for zerovotes this year.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

The Warriorsand Kings combined for 18 turnovers in the first quarter Monday.The last time an NBA game had more in a first quarter was Nov. 15,2010, when Memphis and Orlando combined for 20. That was about16,000 first quarters ago.

QUOTABLE

“Steph is thegreatest of the great. You’re not stopping him. You’re not going toslow him down. You just want to try your best to make him work.” —Kings coach Mike Brown, on the challenge of guarding StephenCurry.