Warriors’ Green will be on the court for this Finals Game 5
A year ago for Game 5 of the NBA Finals, Golden State general manager Bob Myers sat alongside suspended forward Draymond Green next-door to Oracle Arena in a suite at the Oakland Athletics game.
Myers told Green: Let’s not do this again.
On Monday night, the Warriors will try again to close out their second championship in three years with the fiery Green on the court to start Game 5 this time. They are up 3-1 in the best-of-seven series - again. LeBron James and Cleveland, looking down and out only days ago in an 0-3 hole, now have some momentum after winning Game 4 and they will try to stave off elimination once more.
“We won three games in a row in the Finals and 15 in a row overall in the playoffs, you just think it’s going to happen,” Green said Sunday. “And then all of a sudden you get slapped in the face. It’s like, ‘Whoa.’ You remember what can be, what can happen.”
Golden State would rather forget that monumental collapse last year, when Green’s absence for Game 5 because of flagrant foul point accumulation helped swing the series. He took a swipe at James’ groin in Game 4 after the Cavaliers superstar stepped over him.
Myers chose to stay with Green as he sat out that game last June.
“When we were there last year I think I looked at him and said: ‘Let’s just never do this again. Let’s make sure you’re playing and I get to watch. This doesn’t feel right, let’s avoid this, move forward,”’ Myers recalled. “Whatever he’s doing, he should keep doing it. And look, he hasn’t lost any of the intensity and he hasn’t lost his edge. That’s the hardest challenge, when you have that type of emotions, to channel it. And he’s really been able to do that. Like I said, I think because of experience.”
Green said his suspension conversation with Myers is a moment “I remember like it was yesterday, I’ll never forget it.”
If the Warriors can close out the tough-to-eliminate Cavs on Monday, they would become the first Bay Area team to capture a championship at home since the A’s finished the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the 1974 World Series.