Warriors’ Green spoke with Durant
HOUSTON — Before anyone even asked a question, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green discussed the elephant in the room with the conviction and passion that matches his play.
In his first public comments since Green and Kevin Durant had a verbal altercation at the end of regulation of Monday’s eventual loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, Green shared that he “spoke” with Durant and that “we’re moving forward.”
Green did not directly address calling Durant “a bitch,” criticizing him for his pending free agency or his one-game suspension in Tuesday’s win over Atlanta. But with Green active for the Warriors’ game on Thursday against the Houston Rockets, Green generally defended his on-court demeanor with Durant. The tensions began after Durant yelled at Green for not passing him the ball after grabbing a rebound during a tie game with six seconds left before committing a turnover as the buzzer sounded in regulation.
“There is no secret I am an emotional player,” Green said. “I play with emotions on my sleeve. I play with that same emotion. Sometimes it gets the best of me. If it doesn’t work in my favor, I’m going to live with it because it works in my favor to the good. That’s my resume. My resume and the team resume speaks to us more than it doesn’t. So I’m never going to change who I am and I’m going to approach the game the same way it always do. We’ll continue to move forward.”
The Warriors held a team dinner on Wednesday night, which is typical on trips. Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he spoke to Green privately and to the team before Thursday’s morning shootaround. Though Kerr declined to share any details, he described the mood during shootaround as “pretty quiet.”
When the Warriors opened up the end of morning shootaround to the media, Green and Durant appeared cordial and completed their shooting workouts at the same basket. Durant did not speak to reporters after morning shootaround. But Kerr maintained he “feels extremely confident in this team’s ability to get through any adversity.”
“I know the character of the group. I know the history of this group,” said Kerr, whose team has won three NBA titles in the past four years. “It’s way too strong and way too powerful to be upended by the type of adversity that can hit any team in this league. We’re going to get through this.”
After all, the Warriors defeated the Rockets here in Game 7 of the 2018 Western Conference Finals before winning their second NBA championship in consecutive seasons. Green and Durant also had on-court arguments during his inaugural season two years ago.
“I’ve read a lot about how ‘Is this the end of the run? Is it over. Did I ruin it? Did I force Kevin to leave?’ “Green said, rhetorically. “At the end of the day, as I have said before, whatever Kevin decides to do, whatever Klay (Thompson) decides to do, we’ve had great years together. I support everybody whole heartedly 100 percent. As a man and human being, you have the right to do with whatever you want in your life. I’d never question that.”
Green did question one thing, though. He dismissed any concerns on whether his verbal altercation with Durant would disrupt the team’s chances in winning its fourth NBA title in four years or convince Durant to leave next offseason if he plans to decline of his $31 million player option to become a free agent. One Warriors staffer walked out during morning shootaround and jokingly said within ear shot of reporters, “break it up; it’s all over.”
“Nobody in this organization, from a player, not myself, not Kevin, not anybody else, is going to beat us. So if you are one of them 29 teams in this league, you gotta beat us,” Green said. “We are not going to beat us. We’re going to continue to do what we do. I’m sorry if that ruins everybody’s stories. I know everybody’s got a job to do. I apologize for ruining y’all stories, if it did.”