Draymond Green wasn’t happy with the Warriors’ performance on Tuesday.
The Golden State Warriors haven’t had much to complain about since trading for Jimmy Butler, but they have fallen on some harder times in the last week or so. Stephen Curry went down with a pelvis injury just under a week ago, and the Warriors got blown out by the Miami Heat 112-86 on Tuesday night in Butler’s return to South Beach.
Even though they were playing without Curry, who is nearing a return, the Warriors still put on a dismal showing out on the East Coast. While it’s understandable that they would struggle without their star on the floor, a 26-point rout at the hands of a team that just lost 10 games in a row is unacceptable.
Nobody knows that more than Draymond Green. After the game, Green expressed his disgust and sent a stern reminder to his squad with just 10 games to go until the playoffs, via NBC Sports Bay Area.
Related Golden State Warriors NewsArticle continues below
“We got to make sure that we are approaching every game like we’re playing against the best team in the NBA, because that’s who teams turn into when they play us,” Green said. “They play out of their minds. This team, they were 17-for-25 from 3, 18-for-25? But it’s the NBA. Everybody’s got talent.”
This is a frustrating loss for the Warriors, especially on the heels of another disappointing road loss in Atlanta against the Hawks, but there is still no major cause for concern in The Bay Area. Golden State is 15-2 when both Curry and Butler are on the floor together this season, and that number will rightfully give it plenty of confidence in the playoffs.
Still, the Warriors want to pick up some more wins in order to improve their seeding and potentially get home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. As it stands, Golden State is 41-31 and in sixth place in the Western Conference. At the moment, the Warriors are 2.5 games behind the Los Angeles Lakers for the No. 5 spot and are three games out of the No. 4 seed, so it will take a big push down the stretch to crack the top four.
The Warriors must also be cautious that they don’t fall into the play-in. The Los Angeles Clippers are just a half game behind them for the sixth spot and have been playing very well, so Golden State better take Green’s advice to heart very soon.
