Welp, Draymond's next podcast should surely be an interesting one.
For perhaps the first time since establishing himself as a cornerstone of the Dubs Dynasty over the past several seasons, Draymond Green sat on the bench during crunch time on Friday night. After watching his star struggle for the second straight Finals game, Warriors coach Steve Kerr made an executive decision to limit Green's minutes in the fourth quarter.
Draymond understandably wanted to be out on the floor in the deciding moments, but didn't cause an uproar after the Warriors pulled out a huge 107-97 victory behind an epic performance from Steph Curry to even the series at 2-2.
"I'm definitely never thrilled coming out of the game with seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter in a must-win game," Green said. "I'm not going to sit here and act like I was thrilled. I'm a competitor. But, at the end of the day, if that's what Coach decides, then you roll with it. You know, I had to keep my head in the game and, you know, whenever I went back in, try to make some plays. That was just my mindset. You know, don't make too much of it."
Kerr said he doesn't feel the need to have an extra conversation with Draymond about his minutes shifting in the fourth quarter. Although Tim Kawakami of The Athletic told Kerr he saw Draymond react on the bench, don't expect Draymond to rock the boat. He knows that this will merely be a footnote if he has a fourth ring in the next nine days.
"I've always been of the -- on the bandwagon of if you've got something and it's rolling, you stick with it," Green said. "So it is what it is."
Green entered Boston with a target on his back after his fiery Game 2 effort, when all of Beantown thought he deserved to be ejected with a second technical foul after dangling his feet over Jaylen Brown's head. Green stunk it up in Game 3 while getting showered with "F–k you, Draymond!" chants. He finished with two points, four rebounds and three assists in 35 minutes before fouling out.
Friday night start off with much of the same. As he walked to the bench after getting his second foul, Barstool Sports president Dave Portnoy heckled him courtside while wearing a "Draymond is a jerkface" T-shirt.
Draymond made more contributions on Friday night, but wasn't much of a threat offensively. His only bucket came on a cleanup dunk in the third quarter, as he went 1-of-7 from the field and looked hesitant at times.
Kerr elected to sub out Green for Kevon Looney at the 7:32 mark. He didn't re-enter until the 3:41 mark when he started alternating with Jordan Poole, with Green playing defense and JP playing offense. Green stayed in the final 48 seconds along Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins, while Poole subbed in for Looney for the final 25.5 seconds. In all, Draymond logged 7:44 of run time in fourth quarter.
"Loon was playing so well and Jordan Poole was playing so well, so we just stayed with the group," Kerr said. "We generally do that. Like most coaches, if you've got a group that's going well, you just stay with it. The last few minutes we just went to kind of an offense-defense pattern with Draymond and Jordan alternating."
Draymond finished with two points, nine rebounds, eight assists and four steals while committing three fouls in 33 minutes. Kerr said his inability to make an impact offensively against Robert Williams and Al Horford factored into his decisions.
"Look, this is a tough series for him to score because of Boston's size and athleticism, but he's still impacting the game at a huge level," Kerr said. "And he knows we're just going to do whatever it takes to win. We've got a lot of guys who can contribute. A lot of guys did that tonight, and you know, we got it done. And whatever it takes in Game 5, that's what we'll do, too."
So, we'll have to keep an eye on Kerr's fourth-quarter rotations going forward. Remarkably, Draymond might have played his way out of crunch-time situations in this series.
Together with Klay Thompson, Draymond has the highest playoff winning percentage (100-43, .699) in NBA history. Part of Green's Hall of Fame resume is his 'Playoff Draymond' moniker and the triple-double threat that comes with it.
In each of the clinching games the past two series, Playoff Draymond has shown up. He scored 14 points with 15 rebounds and eight assists in Game 6 against the Memphis Grizzlies. He dropped 17 points with nine assists and six rebounds in Game 5 against the Dallas Mavericks. Golden State would love for that guy to return to the floor.
"I don't ever want our players to be happy if I take them out," Kerr said. "Draymond is incredibly competitive. He's the ultimate competitor."
As Draymond goes, the Dubs often go. But it's good to have that Steph Curry guy on your team.
"I think it's an understanding of how things can change in a series," Curry said of Draymond's minutes. "And like you said, there's so much trust in how we do things and decisions that Coach makes and responsibility falls on us as players; that Loon went in there, dominated the paint, got us some big rebounds, created a presence. Draymond came back in and had some juice and some life on the defensive end.
"So, you know, we obviously understand it's just about winning. At the end of the day, all decisions are, you know, predicated on that being the goal."
