As a three-time NBA Champion, Draymond Green knows the feeling of winning a title. And, as he explained on TNT’s “Inside the NBA,” not everyone felt the same.
The first time he won it was back in 2015 when he and the Warriors were still seen as underdogs by most of the NBA community. They beat LeBron and the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games.
They won it again two more times in 2017 and 2018, with Kevin Durant added to the team. As Draymond would explain in the segment, those Chips felt different than the first, in that they knew winning another ring was inevitable that season.
Barkley: “Was [the 2015 Championship] better than the two you won with KD?”
Draymond: “The first one is always best. I think that one was more gratifying, for sure, because it just felt way harder. I feel like in 2017, we got smacked on Christmas Day to the Cavs. Steph and KD were trying to figure out who should take the shot and it was really messing our team up.
And they came together and KD told Steph, I don’t need you to make sure I get shots, go be Steph Curry. And then we played those guys Martin Luther King Day and we blast them probably about 50 points. At that point, I knew it was just a matter of time. We were just waiting on June 10th or whatever. But in 2015, we had to grind every single day.”
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The path was undeniably harder for the Dubs in their first run. They had little experience, much to learn, and were facing teams many believed were better than them.
With Durant, there was little resistance and the team was just way too good to lose when fully healthy. It seems that the harder the obstacles are, the more gratifying it is to win, and it makes a whole lot of sense.
