Draymond Green feels the Warriors have a target on their back, even years after they last won their championship in 2022, just because of the success that young guys have seen them have when they were growing up. Let me break this down further.
The Warriors fell to four wins and three losses in the first seven games of the season, as they suffered back-to-back losses against the Bucks and the Pacers. They lost 110-120 to the Bucks, who did not have Giannis Antetokounmpo, and 109-114 to the Pacers, for whom Tyrese Haliburton was unavailable, among other key players sidelined.
Following the loss to the Bucks, Steve Kerr revealed that the Warriors have a 0-12 record or something over the last few years against teams playing without their star players.
Draymond Green appeared on his own podcast, the Draymond Green Show, after the loss to the Pacers and spoke about the Warriors seemingly being cursed against teams without their best player. Green believes young players see it as an opportunity for them to show their best basketball skills and play like it is the NBA Finals.
“I mean, let’s face it, Giannis was out of the first game. You got everybody out on Indiana’s team. Like you got Tyrese Haliburton out, Ben Mathurin out, TJ McConnell out, Obi Toppin out, and Andrew Nembhard out,” said Draymond Green while reflecting on how shorthanded the Warriors’ opponents were over the past week.
“And honestly, I feel like those are the toughest games for us. It’s one of those things of like you say, like, yo, do not let your guard down. But I think for us, you got so accustomed to playing against like the great teams and the bad teams, and you just know what comes with both of those.”
“And for us, it’s like when the star goes out, hey, anytime a star goes out against us, you’re always going to have guys that step up and just play out of their minds. Like that is the Warrior effect. That is the effect that you get when you’ve had the success that we’ve had.”
“You figure a lot of these young guys that come into the NBA now, they grew up on the success that we’ve had. So when they come into that game, it’s like it’s their NBA finals. It’s like it’s their childhood dream come true. And so you always get like the absolute best version of guys.”
In the first seven games of the season, Green is averaging 8.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 6.1 assists this season so far, while shooting 44.4% from the three-point range. The Warriors veteran then moved on to explain how the Warriors can try to avoid this from happening again in the future.
“No excuse for why we lose those games. But then I think for us where we have to grow is you have to put the fire out before it even gets started. We come into these games, and all of a sudden, you let a guy hit a three that he probably shouldn’t get an open look at.”
“You know, you let a guy get a couple of easy buckets. And in this league, everybody can play. So all of a sudden, you let a guy see two easy ones go in. Now you’ve got a fire to put out. You’ve got a problem to deal with now.”
“And I feel like that’s kind of where we end up at. You’re talking about a team that was 0-and-5, 0-and-6, and we got the game in complete control, and then just down a stretch, just let it go.”
“You know, like that’s not been a characteristic of this team since Jimmy has come over to the team. But that was something we were struggling with before. And so we can’t fall back into that,” Green further added while reflecting on the impact of Jimmy Butler’s addition to the team’s defensive strategies down the stretch in crucial games.
“And I think that’s the most important thing, you know. Um, you’re getting these guards going off on us that aren’t quite premier guards in the NBA. It’s not just a guard issue. It’s a full team issue. They’re getting into our paint. They’re breaking us down. Everyone has to step up to that challenge.”
“Yes, our guards have to step up to the challenge, of course, but that’s a complete team issue. It’s not just a guard issue. It’s on all of us. And so that’s something that we have to figure out.”
“This won’t be the last time it happened. This NBA season is 82 games. Guys are going to miss some games. And you still have to go out, win the game, and take care of the games that you’re supposed to win. And we just did not do that this week.”
Green was thoroughly impressed with Ryan Rollins’ career-high 32-point performance against the Warriors while he was playing for the Bucks. His dagger three-point shot iced the game in the fourth quarter as well for the Bucks. Yet Green concluded that allowing such players to go off against the Warriors is not the best path for them to getting wins in the regular season.
