Draymond Green is treating the end of his team’s season with a surprising level of maturity.
The Golden State Warriors were officially eliminated from the playoffs on Wednesday night with a 121-110 loss in Game 5 of their second-round playoff series at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn. Golden State won Game 1 of the series but lost superstar guard Steph Curry to a hamstring injury during that game as well. As a result, they dropped the next four straight contests to lose the series 4-1.
Speaking with reporters after the loss, the Warriors star Green made some uncharacteristically sensible comments as he reflected on the absence of Curry for those final four games against the Timberwolves.
“On the flip side you can’t say we would have won if Steph hadn’t got hurt,” said Green, per 95.7 The Game. “No we’ve been on the other side of that. So respect it when it don’t go your way.
“Unfortunately on this side, luck wasn’t our side and Steph got hurt,” Green continued. “Take the good with the bad. The Minnesota Timberwolves ended our season and beat us regardless of who was on the floor.”
Green is right that the Warriors have benefited plenty of times over the years from injuries during the playoffs to the other team’s stars. In fact, you could make the argument that was the case for all four of Golden State’s NBA titles in the last decade (Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving missing for the Cleveland Cavaliers during the 2015 NBA Finals, Kawhi Leonard missing for the San Antonio Spurs in the 2017 Western Conference Finals, Chris Paul missing the last two games for the Houston Rockets in the 2018 Western Conference Finals, and Ja Morant missing the final three games for the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2019 Western Conference Semifinals).
Simply put, injury luck (as well as matchups) play a fundamental role in which team ends up winning the NBA championship in any given year. Green’s comments do come as a surprise since he is not exactly known for being rational and level-headed (especially considering who exactly the Warriors just lost to). But at least he recognizes that Golden State should not be making injuries an excuse when the shoe has been on the other foot for them many times before.
