Draymond Green finally returned to the Golden State Warriors lineup after completing his five-game suspension. Going 2-3 in Green’s absence, his return was extremely essential for Stephen Curry and co. to stay afloat in the In-Season Tournament.
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Steve Kerr’s boys started off with a flying start. At one point in the contest, the Bay Area side even led by as much as 24 points. However, De’Aaron Fox’s 20-point second-half heroics allowed the Sacramento Kings to ace a smooth comeback win.
Green, playing his first game since 14th November, had a decent production – 8 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks. However, receiving a technical foul in the final period of the clash turned out to be costly for the Dubs.
Gesturing a carry, Dray and Steph showed their disagreement with the referee’s call. However, only Green was slapped with a technical foul. Calling the ref’s decision “dumb”, Curry stood up for his teammate during the postgame conference.
The Dubs superstar implied that the call had more to do with Green’s reputation in the league than his action itself. He also pointed out that he himself was doing the same thing but got no penalty.
However, the GSW centerpiece also had an important message for Green, “Be fiery, be competitive, be who you are. But we all have to be mindful of not getting distracted and just play basketball.”
This clearly indicates that Curry wants Draymond to be mindful of the veteran leader he is within the team. While he appreciates Green’s passion, the Dubs forward must realize that he is more useful for the team on the court than off of it.
Stephen Curry believes that the Warriors played their best basketball of the season
The Golden State Warriors needed to win by at least 11 points in order to qualify for the knockout stage of the In-Season Tournament. Initially, the Warriors were playing with intent and looked as though they would comfortably clinch a quarterfinal spot in the newly introduced tournament.
As Steph rightly mentioned, the Bay Area side played their best basketball of the campaign in the first 24 minutes. However, after getting outscored 69-51 in the final two periods, Curry was disappointed in the 2nd half collapse.
The San Francisco side has lost eight of their last 10 contests and has tumbled down to the 10th spot in the West. According to Curry, every player on the roster needs to improve individually in order to get better collectively as a unit.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Warriors respond now that they have their backs against the wall. As they play their 9th straight contest against a Western Conference side – the Los Angeles Clippers – the Warriors will hope to spark a winning run as soon as possible.
