The Golden State Warriors have seen it all in the past 10 years — they've won championships, lost championships and even missed the playoffs entirely — but they've never been here before.
After consecutive losses to the Sacramento Kings in their thrilling first round series, the Warriors find themselves in an 0-2 in a series for the first time in 11 seasons. These are truly uncharted waters for the Warriors who, even under previous head coach Mark Jackson, had never gone winless in their first two games of a series … until now.
Unfamiliar territory for Steph Curry and the Warriors 😳 pic.twitter.com/xeHvdFlx5o
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) April 18, 2023
"That's exciting right? A new challenge," Draymond Green told reporters when asked how he felt about being down 0-2 after he was ejected from Tuesday's loss to the Kings for stomping on Domantas Sabonis' chest.
It certainly is a new challenge for the reigning champions, who at least get to respond at home where they've looked more like the dominant team we've come to expect after years of always coming through. But what does history say about teams who trail a series 0-2?
We looked into Bet Labs to find some answers about what we might expect in Game 3 at Chase center.
Kings vs. Warriors Game 3 Betting Trends
First we should establish that the Warriors are not the team with the home-court advantage in this series. Sure they opened the series as favorites (they were -290 at DraftKings) and as our Director of Research Evan Abrams wrote, the Kings were the biggest series dogs as a No. 3 seed since at least 1990 entering this series. Still the Warriors are the lower seed, so losing two games on the road, as surprising as it is, isn't exactly groundbreaking in the NBA Playoffs as it may seem — even for the mighty Warriors.
The Warriors opened as 7.5-point favorites in Game 3 Thursday and the betting trends are in their favor to come away with a home win. According to Bet Labs, home favorites trailing a series 0-2 are 50-26 straight up and 41-32-3 against the spread in Game 3.
The real trend to watch is how the home team responds in the first half. Historically, the home team is a staggering 50-24-1 ATS in the first half of Game 3 when down 0-2 in the series.
Again, the Warriors haven't been in this situation, so there's no guarantee that the reigning champions will "flip the switch" based on those trends alone, but they have been a very good team after a loss under head coach Steve Kerr. Since he took over as coach in the 2014-15 season, the Warriors are 22-14 ATS after a playoff loss, easily the most profitable team in span.
If the first two games of this series are any indication, Thursday's matchup at Chase Center will be a tight battle and a raucous environment. We'll see if the Warriors can maintain the trend of a desperate home team in Game 3.
More NBA Playoffs Coverage
- Odds for Every Game, Series in Round 1
- NBA Playoffs Total Trends for Ever Round 1 Series
- NBA Playoffs Primer: Trends to Know for Round 1
- Dellera's Eastern Conference Prop Forecast
- Dellera's Western Conference Prop Forecast
- LeBron James’ History as an Underdog
- Road to the Finals: Can the Warriors Repeat?
- Road to the Finals: How to Bet the Celtics?
- How Parity Impacts the Western Conference
- What History Says About Teams in the Middle
