HOUSTON — The Golden State Warriors spent their Saturday night 8 miles outside of downtown Houston. They had a team dinner at Mastro’s and a team meeting at their luxury hotel in the Galleria. During it, Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green all spoke.
Green’s speech is the one that landed the loudest, according to those in attendance. One night earlier, Green had a four-turnover Game 6 dud that included a first-quarter flagrant foul, sending the Warriors into an immediate spiral.
“A tone-setter,” Steve Kerr said of the flagrant. “And he knew it.”
So 24 hours before the Warriors finished off the Houston Rockets with a 103-89 Game 7 road win, Green stood before the team and owned up to his part in what was materializing into a possible first-round collapse. They’d suffered two straight blowout losses, appearing scattered and frustrated throughout.
“I had a lot to say,” Green said. “Most importantly was calling myself out … You can’t be a leader and not be accountable. You call other guys out when their s— stinks. You better say when yours does, too.”
This was a difficult series for Green. He had a spectacular last-second Game 4 stop on Alperen Şengün and again showcased his masterful defensive talent throughout the two weeks, but he had four technicals, two flagrants, 20 turnovers and a tough time finding his way offensively against a smart Houston scheme.
Ime Udoka either zoned up or put Fred VanVleet on Green throughout the series. This was done to keep Green out of the screening action with Steph Curry. He was mostly relegated to spot-up duties. After averaging 5.6 assists during the regular season, Green only had three, one, four, two and one assists the first five games.
That lack of activity had him frustrated. He’d also struggled to hit his open 3s and capitalize on shorter-range floaters. Green failed to score double-digit points in any of the first six games despite the Rockets’ willingness to let him have shots.
After he stonewalled Şengün in crunch time to seal Game 4, roared at his home crowd in approval and was showered with two days of defensive praise, Green let his guard down. So did the Warriors. They were low-energy in a Game 5 blowout. Green only played 18 minutes.
To combat that, he said he got himself too charged up heading to the arena for Game 6, listening to the type of music that had him in an overly aggressive mood when the ball tipped.
“I felt like I was going too far,” Green said. “I listened to ‘Check Out Time’ on the way to the game the other day. That’s the exact mindset I had.”
Green committed an unnecessary flagrant foul on Jalen Green at the 8:53 mark of the first quarter and spent the next several minutes stomping around in the huddle about the call.
“He’s the key to our team,” Kerr told The Athletic. “He’s the guy who can drive winning. But he can also drive losing, frankly. What makes him great is also his kryptonite. His emotion, his passion, his competitive fire. And he knew last game that flagrant right away set a bad tone. He was emotional afterwards in the timeout. He was not poised. The whole key to the series was poise. Flagrant foul when a guy just wraps you up? That was a lack of composure. And then it sort of spirals, right? You’re not following the game plan, you’re fouling VanVleet.”
Then Kerr mentioned Curry’s turnover numbers. He’d committed 14 turnovers in the three losses in the series. He only committed two in Game 7, and the team only committed seven.
“When Draymond is centered and organized and poised and Steph is taking care of the ball, it’s so easy for the rest of the group just to follow and do their jobs,” Kerr said. “But if those guys are scattered and throwing the ball around, now everything goes haywire and we’re scrambling.”
Green said he changed up his pregame routine on Sunday. He went to the spa and meditated. He only listened to slow music. He wanted to enter Game 7 with a calm approach. He had a layup and two 3s in the first five minutes — part of a 16-point performance — and didn’t celebrate either jumper with his patented “Boom!” yell. He just strolled back on defense.
“I pouted way too much last game,” Green said. “I spent the last two days embarrassed at what I gave to the game, what I gave to the world.”
Green’s night didn’t come without incident. With 1:39 left in the first half, he was hit on the arm by VanVleet up top and, while selling the foul, he flailed and nailed VanVleet in the chin. The officials reviewed it and assessed Green a technical foul. “How?” Green briefly yelled down toward the referees, but quickly refocused.
“He didn’t react and go talk to the refs and try to plead his case,” Curry said. “It didn’t go his way. It was an unfortunate call. But he kept it about basketball.”
Green and Curry had a conversation before the game about keeping the Rockets under 90 points. Houston’s defense is a bear to score against, but the Rockets can be contained in a half-court setting.
Curry and Green made sure to limit turnovers, which would curtail the Rockets’ fast-break opportunities and then, in a stable setting, Green worked his magic on the interior. The Warriors shut off the 3-point line (Houston only got up 18 attempts), funneled the ball into help and allowed Green to work one-on-one against Şengün any time the Rockets wanted.
Şengün went an inefficient 9 of 23 shooting. Green was a wrecking ball defensively. Along with Butler, a Kevon Looney cameo and Curry (10 rebounds), they weren’t overwhelmed on the glass. As Curry and Green walked off the floor late in the fourth quarter, they pointed up at the scoreboard. The Rockets were held to 89 points. Mission accomplished.
“What I respect more than anything is the way he can talk to anybody and everybody, and it’s so on point and quick,” Butler said of Green. “Like, the fact he can tell me, ‘Hey, that’s two loose balls you didn’t get. No more.’ Yep. You’re right.”
But Green doesn’t leave the first round unscathed. As the Warriors learned in 2016 when he was suspended during the NBA Finals, the league has playoff technical and flagrant limits that roll over each round.
Players receive a one-game suspension after their seventh playoff technical and a one-game suspension after accumulating four flagrant points. Green is already at four technicals and two flagrant points at the end of the first round. That’s something that both general manager Mike Dunleavy and Kerr said they’d have to emphasize to Green in the lead-up to the second round.
“One thing I’ll say about Dray is that in the regular season, he always goes right up to the edge and never gets suspended,” Kerr said.
But Kerr knows it’ll be difficult. Green is a 6-foot-6, undersized center who has lost some of his athletic pop and can only survive on the interior if his fire is burning to a ferocious degree. That can lead him to boil over during tense moments and often puts him in the crosshairs of officials.
“He flails sometimes like after a play happens if somebody fouls him,” Kerr said. “His natural instinct is to flail his arms, and sometimes he makes contact like he did tonight and then that’s a tech or that’s a flagrant. I don’t know what to say about that, but we’ll definitely address it before the start of the next series.”
Awaiting in the next series: Rudy Gobert and the Minnesota Timberwolves, a physical team employing a center whom Green once put in a chokehold, leading to a five-game suspension. Green brushed aside any concern about the characters involved, but he knows his technical and flagrant count and importance to his team.
“I have to keep it similarly (calm) for my guys,” Green said. “Forget anybody else. I’ll be locked in. Finding that balance, finding that line and not crossing it is important for me and this team. I gave them my word, and I’ll continue to give them my word.”
(Top photo of Draymond Green driving against Tari Eason: Troy Taormina / Imagn Images)
