The Warriors, despite losing last night, should be proud. They went into a game they weren’t supposed to win without Steph Curry and battled it all the way until the end. The energy was playoff-esque last night, with the Dubs locking up Devin Booker and forcing Phoenix to hit their shots to take the win. They played an excellent 48 minutes of basketball, bolstered incredibly by a 38-point performance from Jordan Poole.

While Poole was the star of the show, Draymond Green looked like his old self last night. He brought a lot of fire to the competition as usually does, playing a large role in shoring up the team’s defensive identity against one of the most calculated offenses in the league. He also chirped up Jae Crowder a little bit:

Green and Crowder are both notorious trash-talkers, so it makes sense they got into it in a playoff atmosphere, which seemed to be the vibe at Chase Center last night. This particular interaction is unclear in how it began, but the last of it seemed to be spurred by Green reminding Crowder about his notorious playoff choke-jobs of the past, and when Crowder started talking back, Green reassured him that he didn’t want to get into it.

“You from Buckhead, Jae. You from Buckhead. You from a nice neighborhood. You’re not like that” Green told the Suns forward.

With these two teams seemingly on a collision course in the playoffs regardless of where both of them end up seeded, their battles through the season have been ones for the books, and we’re sure to get more of these interactions in the future between Green and Crowder. The season series ended split at 2 games for each squad, with all games ending close. While the results of a 7-game series are not abundantly clear, it was a statement loss for the Warriors in many ways: They showed they could hang around with the alleged “best team in the league” even without Steph.

Detractors of the win are quick to point out that Steph or no, Poole’s 38 “more than made up for” Curry’s absence. Poole likely won’t be scoring like that in every game, but his ability on its own is more than enough evidence that he’s going to cause Phoenix a lot of problems. The Suns stuck Mikal Bridges on him for most of the night, but when Curry returns, Bridges will likely match up more against Steph, which would leave someone like Chris Paul to deal with Poole. While Paul is a good defender in his own right, he can’t match Poole’s first step with length like Bridges can.

A healthy Steph Curry changes a lot of dynamics about the Warriors offense. For them to have played this well without him is a good sign that they could take on Phoenix and maybe even beat them in less than 7. Golden State, as long as they go into playoff games with the mentality they showed tonight (primarily by Green), should be more than capable of beating anyone if they can keep pace with the Suns.

(Photo credit: NBC Sports Bay Area)