As a 4x NBA Champion, Draymond Green has played in more high-stakes playoff games than most athletes can even dream of. So while Green has a right to be confident in the Warriors’ success, some of his comments are coming back to haunt him.
In an interview on ‘The Shop’ earlier this season, Dray spoke about his drive to compete and how it can be hard to find the motivation to play against teams who aren’t very good. Here, he specifically called out the Kings when they would, ironically, finish the season with a much better record.
“It’s not a night that I show up and I don’t wanna be a dawg, especially if it’s LeBron coming in, if it’s a Giannis coming in, ’cause them the game I live for,” Green said. “It’s the nights I show up and we playing against the sorry motherf**kers, I can’t play. The Kings stink. You name ’em, OKC right now. The Kings may get better this year, I hope. But, you know, it’s like, ‘how am I supposed to get myself up with this engine on this soft Tuesday?”
This video hits different now. 😂
Draymond: "It's the nights, I show up, and we playing against the sorry motherf**kers. I can't play."
Mav: "Who? The Kings?"
Draymond: "The Kings stink. You name 'em.“
(@uninterrupted)pic.twitter.com/A0C5i3PCRP
— NBA Retweet (@RTNBA) April 18, 2023
Needless to say, that video has aged like milk for Draymond. Not only did the Warriors play mediocre for most of the season, but they also came into the playoffs as the 6th seed and are now fighting to avoid a 3-0 series deficit against the same Kings team that Draymond was clowning just a few months ago.
The Warriors Wanted This Matchup
To make matters even worse for the Warriors, they were seeking out this playoff matchup before the end of the season, and even Draymond himself said he didn’t mind how the matchups shook out this year.
“I’m not upset if the standings shook out how they did today, and we met Sacramento in the first round,” said Dray. “Not because I think Sacramento is a weak team but because travel is so much easier. If you think about our road to winning the championship last year, it started with Denver, and then we went to Memphis… the travel that’s a lot on your body, and if we could take a bus an hour and ten minutes up the way then I think that’s much better for us.”
The Dubs don’t have any excuses this time. They are healthy and got the matchup they wanted in the first round.
If they fail to deliver on a title or even make the Conference Semi-Finals, one has to wonder how much longer this core is going to run it back.
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