Draymond Green erupts on Kevin Durant, rips Warriors after epic OT loss
If you went to bed early (or stepped out for the evening) on Friday night, you missed an epic fourth-quarter comeback by the Memphis Grizzlies against the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors led by 24 at one point and took a 19-point lead into the final frame, but the Grizzlies held the Warriors to just 13 points in the fourth to force overtime on the way to a 128-119 win. And when Kevin Durant settled for a 3-pointer in isolation on Golden State's final meaningful possession of regulation, Draymond Green let his new teammate hear about it:
https://vine.co/v/5VxP0evWDU7
After the game, Green admitted that his body language during Memphis' comeback wasn't great, yet he claimed he's actually "thrilled" by the loss to the Grizzlies (via ESPN.com):
"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 had Kevin with an iso at the top," 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."
"Our fourth-quarter offense has been atrocious, and I don't know if you could see," Green said. "Everyone only notices in losses, but I actually pay attention to things when we win also."
Unfortunately, such bumps in the road should be expected for the Warriors, at least for the next couple months. As we've said before, Golden State is learning the same lesson LeBron James and Dwyane Wade had to learn with the Miami Heat: getting a bunch of very talented offensive players on the same page is no easy task, especially when those stars have redundant skill sets.
Yet as upset as Green might have been about the loss, he's right to be thrilled. The Warriors really are getting better with every passing week. By the All-Star break, they should be humming on all cylinders -- ready to take on the Cavaliers and their latest addition.
https://twitter.com/anthonyVslater/status/817837977845964800
Are there problems in Golden State? Undoubtedly. The crunchtime offense is still too isolation-dependent and Durant and Curry are still figuring things out between themselves.
Yet that's the kicker. The Warriors saw firsthand how big of an issue that can be on Friday night against Memphis. Now, they can go to work fixing that specific issue. And that's how they'll continue to navigate their way through this regular season: using the 82-game slog as a series of experiments aimed at finding the best solution. When you're a superteam, the season is your laboratory.
