How the Warriors’ season might have been rescued by Draymond Green’s suspension

Draymond Green knew what needed to be done by the time he arrived at the Chase Center late on Thursday night. Green served a one-game suspension for stomping on Kings center Domantas Sabonis’ chest in the fourth quarter of Game 2 and was unable to attend the Golden State Warriors’ season-saving victory against the Sacramento Kings in Game 3 of their best-of-seven first-round series.

Green told ESPN after the Warriors’ 126-125 victory on Sunday to square the series at 2-2, “I was dialed in.” “To me, it was like watching a movie. And I observed stuff.

In the Game 3 victory at home, the Warriors’ spacing was superior with just one big on the court. And the big man filling in for him, the infamously underrated Kevon Looney, had been fantastic (20 rebounds, nine assists, and four points).

While his teammates were still in the postgame locker room, Green returned to the arena. After discussing his plan with Stephen Curry, he stormed into coach Steve Kerr’s office to make his pitch.

Game 4 should only have one major player, and that player should be Looney, not him.

We can’t drag him. BS, that. Green declared, “He doesn’t deserve it. “Let it be me if this is going to be a thing.”

Green, who had started all but two of the 597 games he had played since Kerr selected him to replace two-time All-Star David Lee in his first season as coach back in 2014, experienced a full circle moment.

“The most important thing to me is that I can enter a room and announce to the coach, ‘Coach, I need to come off the bench.'” Because I saw David Lee embrace me and say, “This is what you need to do,” regardless of the circumstances, Green said. Consequently, you can never be the contrary.

Because an All-Star who said, “All right, here’s what you need to do,” is where my entire endeavor began.

At the time, Green was in his third season and still attempting to make a name for himself in the NBA. He still carries the grudge for getting selected in the second round out of Michigan State; if he hadn’t been given the chance to succeed, it might have crushed him.

The most affirming thing Kerr could do for him was to make him a regular starter rather than merely a replacement starter due to injury. And it unlocked the Warriors as they have been known to us over the course of the past ten years.

Green claimed, “That’s when it became real for me.” It’s not like there are 16 games in this. We’re just going with it. I now have the chance to realize my full potential, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Green and Kerr would never willingly give away their starting position. However, it was obvious that was what had to be done if the Warriors were to win this series.

Warriors guard Klay Thompson stated, “I love the ovation our crowd gave [him].” In terms of being a floor-spacing big man who can guard every position, I want to be remembered as a player who revolutionized the way basketball is played. Simply put, we appreciate Draymond’s selflessness and initiative. He understands the game more than anyone I know.

Green’s decision in the game on Sunday cannot be separated from the confusion his suspension had caused the club to experience prior to Game 3. According to team sources, any initial resentment against Green for putting himself and the team in this situation rapidly changed to rage and a determination to exact revenge for what many within the organization believed was an unfair punishment by the NBA.

Green received support from the Warriors both publicly and personally. They went on to win by one point after that.

The Warriors have an uncertain future with an expensive, aging squad, but had things gone the other way and they lost Game 3 while Green was out, the outcome might have been quite different.

However, Golden State quickly adjusted and used a more open, fast-paced style of play to win Game 3.

Which, during this dynastic reign, is actually not all that unusual for them. Even though the Warriors’ brand of basketball has dominated this era, there have been significant changes over the years.

In order to counter the Cleveland Cavaliers’ large lineups, which had successfully slowed the game down by trapping Curry, Golden State placed Andre Iguodala into the starting lineup in lieu of Andrew Bogut in the middle of the 2015 finals.

Basketball history was made when a rookie assistant named Nick Uren recommended the unconventional small-ball lineup during a coaches’ meeting with the Cavaliers leading the series 2-1.

The Warriors’ and the NBA’s lineup switch on Sunday might not mark the start of a new era for either team. Jordan Poole, who started in place of Green on Sunday, also took Curry’s position in the starting lineup for four games of the playoffs the previous year as Curry recovered from an injury.

Furthermore, it is too early to predict how long this adjustment will last. As Kerr sought to slow down Sacramento guards De’Aaron Fox and Keegan Murray to begin the second half, Green entered the game. But throughout the season, the Warriors have tried various iterations of this switch, occasionally starting Poole to try to make the kind of space required for Curry and Thompson to function as they should.

Whether Green, Looney, or someone else moves aside to open it up, the lineup adjustment feels like it will happen eventually.

Green accepted it on Sunday, just as Lee had done for him all those years earlier. And he did it with assurance.

Green advised, “You have to always give back, never get too big for the moment, never get so full of yourself.” “If doing that will ultimately help you win, then that’s what you need to do because that’s what matters most.”