Draymond Green Struggling Since Return
Despite getting a big win against one of the Eastern Conference’s top teams with no Klay Thompson or Draymond Green, the Warriors have not looked good since Steph Curry went down against the Celtics a week and a half ago. Their stretch of games doesn’t get much better from here, as they play the Grizzlies tonight and will play the Suns later this week.
It was largely assumed that the Warriors wouldn’t quite be the same with Steph sitting, but this? This was unexpected. With Draymond Green back, at least, the team should be competitive. They shouldn’t be losing to teams like Orlando, Washington, or San Antonio if they’re in that upper echelon of winners… right?
Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case.
This stat is jarring. Green has been one of the most impactful players on this team for so long, Curry or not, that one would expect him to step up. But this tweet points something out that even Dray himself won’t admit because excuses aren’t what he’s about: He’s probably playing through the last vestiges of his recent back injury. He looks slower on defense, he’s having uncharacteristic lapses, and seems distracted. While he was good defensively in the second half against the Wizards, he wasn’t Draymond Green good.
In his recent media availability, Green was very open about his struggles, saying that despite him feeling healthy, he is playing poorly and far below the standards he holds himself to on both ends:
While it very well could be injury-related, as we pointed out earlier, Green’s perspective is the one that matters the most, and from his view, he’s not playing how he should be. The reasons behind that could really be anything, but it can easily be agreed on that he’s going to need to step back up if the Warriors are going to prevent a slide.
As a sidebar to these issues, this stretch of games really shows the impact Steph Curry has on this team. It’s been noted a number of times how the Dubs get the best out of their role players, and now we’re getting to see a little bit of the reason why. Losing your superstar at a critical juncture of the season is not an ideal situation for anyone, but for a superstar who makes the system work just by being on the court? Devastating.
Green will not play against Memphis tonight, which will give him another chance (just as it did with Miami) to recuperate himself and reflect a little bit. It will also free up minutes against a very good team for the young guns which will be key moving into the playoffs for the team’s depth. There is no timeline yet for Steph Curry’s return so he can cover a lot of the issues going on right now, but he’s remained confident he’ll be back before the postseason. And that day can’t come soon enough at this point.
(Photo credit: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)