photo credit: IFWT IG
Draymond Green was PISSED last night with his Warriors teammates and he had every right to be. I was watching this game and fell asleep around the start of the 4th quarter, when the Warriors were in total control. I woke up in the middle of the night to see that they somehow blew a 24 point lead to a team that can’t score in the Memphis Grizzlies. Draymond was very upset with Kevin Durant at the end of regulation and he was still steaming after the game.
@IamJoeSports
Green was angry with Durant for the shot he decided to take near the end of regulation. Had the shot had gone in, the Warriors would have been up by five points with less than 10 seconds left and would have won the game. KD missed the shot, which allowed the Grizzlies one final chance to tie the game and send it to overtime and thats exactly what Mike Conley did. The Grizzlies then eventually won 128-119 in OT.
Green wasn’t angry that Durant missed the shot, that happens, he was mad at the play selection Durant chose.
“We had Kevin with an iso at the top,” Steve Kerr explained. “He had Zach [Randolph] on him and I thought about taking a timeout, but I liked the matchup and so I let the play go through.”
Durant said Green was a little miffed that they didn’t work the pick-and-roll with Stephen Curry on that possession.
Green was 100% correct about the play because Durant made a bad decision to shoot a long range three with a defender on him, when he could have easily went by Randolph, or ran the pick and roll like Green wanted.
After the game he was still very unhappy and called out the team for their body language, which he included himself in. He then said he was happy they lost.
“I’m actually happy we lost today because there’s some things that we need to correct in order to win a championship, and that’s our goal,” he said. “So trying to win every regular-season game really don’t matter. I want to see us get better each and every time we step on the floor, and I don’t feel like that’s been happening for the things we need to get better at. So I’m kind of thrilled that we lost because you usually make corrections when you lose.”
“We’ve got some things that we need to correct to be a championship team, and right now we’re not that,” he said.
Green is right about the Warriors not being championship ready yet. While they will still very likely represent the west in the NBA finals, they can’t be blowing huge leads and not being focused against a team like Memphis, that while they are gritty and tough, are never going to put fear in their opponents heart with their offense.
