Maybe Draymond Green’s shoulders were exhausted Tuesday night after the most tumultuous 48 hours of his National Basketball Association career.
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Eliminating Golden State would be a huge shock, given the Warriors completed a record-setting 73-9 regular season, but it would be no less than the Thunder deserve. The Warriors couldn’t respond to the energy of the entire Thunder and were 25-point deficit at half-time. All odds are against the Warriors now, beyond the history of being 3-1 and into the reality of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook & Co. completely dominating this series.
If any Warriors player talked to each other, I didn’t see it. Green isn’t just fouling players on goal: He’s actually trying to hurt them and puts them at risk with his decisions to take advantage of the league’s love for him team and the referees tending to ignore the uglier aspects in what makes the Warriors tick.
“I don’t think the last 48 hours affected me”, Green said. If I can’t do it as well as I think, I’m going to go out there and try.
“I don’t really want to watch the film, because I already know what the problem is”, he said. That don’t make sense.
Oklahoma City’s length and quickness has bedeviled the Warriors’ offense throughout this series, and I don’t know if the Warriors can fix that.
On Monday, a day after looking particularly off-rhythm shooting in Game 3, Curry had that serene look I’ve seen a few times before, usually right before something large is about to happen. That would suck the soul out of me if I was a player… “I’m sure it was a stressful 48 hours for him not knowing what the decision was going to be and dealing with those emotions coming into tonight and trying to help our team win”. So no, I don’t think I’ll get suspended. I don’t see how anyone can say I did that on objective.
Despite Golden State’s dire situation, Green still believes his team can battle back: “We’ll be fine”.
Stephen Curry has also been bad these past two games, but he’s so electrifying an offensive player and has such a unique ability to turn around a game so quickly you can’t sit him down.
The NBA determines a flagrant 1 foul to include “unnecessary contact”. Green was fined $25,000 by the National Basketball Association on Monday and the foul was upgraded to a flagrant 2, but he was not suspended and will be in uniform when the defending champion Warriors try to even the series at 2-2.
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Similarly, Durant’s length wreaks havoc on a standard pass from Draymond Green. Green bounced back after a poor Game 3 in a first-round loss to Houston to post 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists in a 121-94 victory in Game 4.
