Warriors Will Be OK, Understatement Of The Century
I hated sharing the same room with my brother the older I got. The way he left sweaty clothes around on the floor, occasionally let out a dastardly bodily odors and asked me, “Do you have change for this bill?” pissed me off to great lengths.
That’s exactly what the Golden State Warriors are going through right now, who dropped a 121-116 overtime game in Los Angeles vs the Clippers last night.
The highlight from that game wasn’t Golden State’s second loss in three games but rather the sideline confrontation between NBA superstar Kevin Durant and the Warriors heartbeat and defensive anchor in Draymond Green.
Following a miss by the Los Angeles Clippers with less than 10 seconds remaining, Draymond Green carelessly stole a rebound from Kevin Durant with the game tied at 106-106 and decided to dribble the ball up the floor, turning the ball over as Golden State failed to get a shot attempt.
DRAYMOND FOR THE WIN. pic.twitter.com/pu67K5B8J6 — Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 13, 2018
Interesting sequence here after Draymond’s play at the end of regulation: -Draymond leaves leaves the huddle with DeMarcus telling him to “lock in” -Durant is pissed saying, “come on man… I’m trying to win a basketball game” with Iguodala talking him down. pic.twitter.com/iqLuxI6SdJ — Logan Murdock (@loganmmurdock) November 13, 2018
Scoring isn’t Draymond Green’s strength, and neither is dribbling the basketball, two things that are strengths for Kevin Durant, especially the first that was mentioned here.
So when Draymond Green makes a boneheaded decision to steal a rebound and dribble the ball up the floor with regulation winding down, you get the angst of Kevin Durant, who let Green have it on the sidelines before the beginning of overtime.
Not becoming of his character, Green didn’t back down, exchanging words with the man he begged to come to Golden State following the Warriors’ 2016 NBA Finals collapse to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Green walked away from the huddle, having to be calmed down by DeMarcus Cousins, who was in street clothes as he continues to recover from his ACL injury.
Durant continued on talking in the Warriors huddle, angrily, only to see Green come back and interject.
It would continue after the game as the bad blood spilled over into the visitors locker room at the Staples Center.
An expletive-laced shouting match could be heard outside of the locker room with Draymond Green defending himself, only to be pushed back by fellow teammates who confronted him, according to sources close to ESPN Adrian Wojnarowski and Marc J. Spears.
Simply put, the Warriors are getting tired of each other. That may mean something for the summer of 2019 when Durant will likely test the market as a free agent, but as for the current 2018-19 season its complete hogwash.
The Golden State Warriors will lose their share of games, specifically when players will likely be in and out of the lineup having had most of this core around for four straight NBA Finals appearances.
Going to a fifth straight in most cases can be viewed as unprecedented in the current day NBA. The most recent player and not team to do so was LeBron James, who saw himself compete in eight straight NBA Finals.
Kevin Durant is a laid back guy, but he’s also a very unique thinker. Key word there: thinker. Draymond Green is a rah-rah kind of guy you love to have on your team but not necessarily in your ear.
He’s going to say things no one wants to hear, but at the end of the day he typically makes plays for the betterment of the team.
Last night just wasn’t one of them.
What are your thoughts on the drama in Golden State? Leave your comments below!
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