Lowe talks about how Draymond’s reputation is changing, how great LeBron is, as well as why Jaime Jaquez Jr. is the best Heat player ever.
It was the retirement that hurt the most because it made clear what Green has lost and how disorganized those proud NBA champions are as they try to save a season that started off so well for Golden State.
Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic was hit by Green’s flailing arm in front of the Warriors’ bench on Tuesday night. The coaches and players looking from a few feet away didn’t react much.
There were no complaints as the judges looked over the play, and there were also no arguments when they said Green was kicked off.
Green ran off with a dumb look on his face. The game kept going. With a 6-2 start that seems like it took place in a different world, Golden State is now 10-14 and 4-12. It’s not clear to Kerr who to play or when.
After the game, the team kept the same tone. Coach Steve Kerr gave a short answer about how the Warriors needed Green before moving on to talk about why he took Klay Thompson as well as Andrew Wiggins off the court late.
They were mad at the league for suspending Green within Game 5 of the 2016 Finals, even though the event that started the fight was just the last one in a long line of fights and clear fouls.
Early in that third season, Green yelled at Durant on the bench throughout a game against the Clippers.
This showed that Durant and the team were no longer getting along. Durant quit during that off-season, but Green wasn’t the only one who made that choice.
The next two seasons were wiped out by the plague and injuries to Thompson and Stephen Curry, but the Warriors came back strong and won their fourth title in 2022. Green then called the playoffs an “Warriors Invitational.”
That streak ended a year ago when Green cold-cocked Jordan Poole at practice, and the public saw the tape.
That day, Green lost respect in the group. He keeps taking himself out of the game, which makes it hard to get it back.
They lose their best defender in Green. He’s probably been the best defender for the past 15 years and was the key to their innovative small-ball teams.
When Green isn’t on the court, do the Warriors run a more standard offense? He leads their ballet of off-ball moves.
Curry is playing almost at his best while the rest of the team is struggling. It will be hard to get better through deal. Green has a deal that ends in four years. The league has seen it all fall apart.
Many doubters have long been interested in what Green would be like if he wasn’t part of the Warriors. They now have an identical question about Wiggins, whose contract also has four years left.
Some surprising players have been good for fantasy teams over the last two weeks, whereas some big names have let their managers down and been suffering in a lot of different fantasy categories.
Haliburton has to box out Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is like a train chasing rebounds on offense with almost as much fervor as game balls as well as ladders. Buddy Hield charges at Brook Lopez.
Haliburton is not going to give up. He gives Antetokounmpo a clean boxout hit and does enough to mess up the bounce so that Antetokounmpo can deflect it out of bounds.
The Pacers’ fast-paced attack is strong enough to win many games by itself, maybe even one playoff round. A fair is going on.
At that level, even teams that like to score need to be mean, tough, and play defense. With plays like this, they need stars to lead the way.
In the NBA playoffs, or at least the second round, the fun stops. The other people are bigger, stronger, or meaner. Because rotations are faster, scouting reports are more focused. Teams that only go one way fail.
Rick Carlisle, the head coach of the Indiana Pacers, told ESPN that the team did see that play in a film session before the title game toward the Los Angeles Lakers. Carlisle said that the play, which was recorded as a team rebound, is a winning play that isn’t counted in the stats.
Carlisle also said, “Stephen Curry was a guy that people used to pick on.” “He kept getting better until he could handle himself.” That is where Tyrese’s growth is still going on. He’s moving in the same direction.”
When you look at the other teams, the Pacers’ wins across the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks in the knockout round were their best defensive games of the season.
Even so, they still made mistakes because they are small and can’t get out of double teams without running into each other.
The way they used the in-season event as a stepping stone—a chance to show themselves they could do bigger things—made me think of how the young Phoenix Suns got close to the playoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
The Suns came back from Orlando a different team, one that was confident in itself and knew how to beat good teams. In the coming months, we’ll find out if Las Vegas had the same kind of effect on Indiana.