SACRAMENTO -- A sly smile grew from the corners of Draymond Green's mouth Monday night at Golden 1 Center. In most cases, the reaction would come from a Warriors win, not a game where he was ejected and Golden State dropped its second straight game to the Sacramento Kings to open the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.
But the 33-year-old has always been built different.
"That's exciting, right?" Green said. "A new challenge."
Ever since the Warriors drafted Green over a decade ago in 2012, his NBA life has almost always included the playoffs. As a rookie, he helped Golden State reach the postseason for the first time since the "We Believe" Warriors shocked the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the 2007 playoffs before falling to the Utah Jazz in the second round. Green is in his 11th NBA season and has missed the playoffs only twice.
He, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson are in their 28th playoff series together. They've swept teams six times. They've overcome a three-games-to-one deficit, and blown one as well.
They also have never been down two games to none in the playoffs like they are right now.
"After the game, I was actually thinking about that," Green said. "Like, man, this is one we haven't seen yet. And we've conquered all the rest of them. So why not conquer this one?
Golden State Warriors
"It'll be a lot of fun. A lot of fun. It's good."
The Warriors this season were an atrocious 11-30 on the road, the second-worst road record in the NBA. Only the 22-win Houston Rockets, 22-win San Antonio Spurs and 17-win Detroit Pistons were worse. Each had an 8-33 record away from their home court.
Taking a bus ride back to San Francisco on Monday night, the Warriors will take Tuesday off, hit the practice court Wednesday and then be back to their comfort zone come Thursday night. The Warriors were a completely different team at Chase Center, going 33-8.
Only the Denver Nuggets (34-7) and Memphis Grizzlies (35-6) were better in front of their home fans.
"I mean, yeah, unfamiliar territory but we've been down 3-1, we've been up 3-1," Thompson said. "We've been through everything. So you rely on our experience and we'll take a great off day tomorrow and recollect ourselves and do what we do, and that's play well at home.
"Always."
Ten months ago, the Warriors dropped Game 1 of the NBA Finals to the Boston Celtics by 12 points. They quickly found themselves in a two-games-to-one deficit but won three straight to be crowned champions yet again. This is different.
The Kings through the first two games haven't just beat the odds, they're defeating history. Steve Kerr came into Monday night 5-1 in first-round Game 2s, and 19-5 overall in Game 2s. Since 2015 under Kerr, the Warriors were 24-8 following a loss, and 30-10 after dropping a playoff game since 2013.
Curry's solution to a new situation for him in Year 14 is clear: Embrace the latest obstacle.
"You do this as long as we have in 28 series and we've never been in this situation, gotta stay together, gotta stay locked in on things we gotta do better," he said. "Embrace the challenge of protecting our home court, which we've done great all year. And at the end of the day, all we've got to do is win one game here, somehow, some way -- whatever game it is.
"That's the old saying: The series doesn't start until somebody wins on the other team's home floor. If we want to get ourselves back into it, it's going to start with a focused effort in Game 3 at home. Get our crowd into it early and try to throw the first punch in terms of how we come out with the right intentions."
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The same problems that plagued the Warriors in the regular season plagued them in their first two games in Sacramento. The Warriors have turned the ball over 37 times through two games. The Kings have 41 points off turnovers compared to the Warriors' 14. Sacramento also has scored 41 second-chance points, and Golden State has 27.
One of the most dominant dynasties in NBA history started with Curry, Green and Thompson. If the Warriors' punch continues to lack the necessary juice needed this time of the year, they could be looking at an unprecedented knockout uppercut from the up-and-coming Kings, a team who happened to be even better on the road than at home this season.