MIXED BAG ON, OFF COURT
Green, Durant hash out problems before Warriors get blown out
HOUSTON » Kevin Durant and Draymond Green may have improved their on- court chemistry. If only the Warriors could say the same thing about themselves.
The Warriors finished with a 107-86 loss to the Houston Rockets on Thursday. In their third loss in the past five games, the Warriors (12- 4) offered a sharp contrast from the breathless performance they offered here six months ago against the Rockets (7-7) in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals.
“We’re banged up a little bit physically and banged up spiritually,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “There’s no getting around that. We have to go fill up our cup and get our spirit back and get our energy back.”
The Warriors suddenly became a plodding offense. They logged nearly as many assists (18) as turnovers (16). They went 4 of 18 from 3-point range after shooting 42 percent this season. And even if Durant and Green showed moments of some reconciliation, both players clearly view their recent scuffle differently.
“Don’t ask me about that again,” said an annoyed Durant, who also had 20 points while making more free throws (8 of 8) than field goals (6 of 15) along with five rebounds, two assists and two turnovers.
Green also declined to field followup questions about the issue following morning shootaround. Green also did not directly address using a derog-
atory term toward Durant in Monday’s dust-up, criticizing him for his pending free agency or his one-game suspension.
But in his first public comments since Green and 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.”
“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 résumé. My résumé and the team résumé 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 a typical practice on trips. 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 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 and maintained a sullen expression as he sat on a bench and thumbed through his phone after his workout. 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.”
Although ugly, the Warriors’ loss to Houston marked the first step.
In the first two possessions, Green set up to Durant for two open shots. Later in the third quarter, Durant tapped Green on the chest and delivered encouraging words after he committed a turnover. Green had a performance he described as “horrible” with zero points, three missed shots and five turnovers in 24 minutes. Yet, he maintained a sense of humor about facing a minutes restriction in the Warriors’ next two games because of a sore right foot that kept him sidelined last week for two games.
“Thank God I got suspended. I was really sore,” joked Green, who played 43 minutes in the Warriors’ overtime loss to the Clippers on Monday. “So I sat there and iced the whole day and got some treatment at home. Everything happens for a reason.”
Was the reason for the Warriors’ latest performance partly because of the spat that Durant and Green had?
“It’s impossible to say no. I also think it’s impossible to say yeah,” Green said. “If those emotions are what causes us to lose, then it’s my bad. We’re not panicking or thinking we’re not a great team. We’re still the best team in the league and we’re going to win more games, a bunch of games and win another champi- onship.”
The Warriors did not resemble a championship team against the Rockets.
Warriors guard Klay Thompson finished with 10 points while shooting 5 of 16 from the field and missing all five of his 3-pointers. The Warriors allowed the Rockets to opening the fourth quarter with a 21-2 run. None of the Warriors starters made a 3-pointer, something that has not happened since a 18-point loss to the Chicago Bulls on March, 15, 2013. Kerr started veteran Andre Iguodala at point guard in place of Quinn Cook for defensive purposes, but that did little in bolstering the offense.
“I just didn’t think we had the juice that’s necessary on the road against a good team,” Kerr said. “We were sort of jogging through our cuts. We just didn’t play well. We played a very poor game.”
The obvious disclaimer: Stephen Curry missed his fourth consecutive game and will miss at least four more because of a sore left groin.
Kerr reported that Warriors medical director Rick Celebrini indicated Curry is “getting better.” Curry also spent morning shootaround completing a shooting workout, the first time he has done so in front of reporters since he sustained the injury in the third quarter of last week’s game against Milwaukee. Curry also completed exercises with Celebrini at the end of Thursday’s morning shootaround that tested his range of motion.
Still, the Warriors had no clear timetable on when Curry will begin practicing.
“Sometimes the symptoms and the MRI and the imaging don’t fit,” Kerr said. “It’s not always going to be perfect. We’re basing this on symptoms, and groin injuries are tricky.”
So is the dynamic between Durant and Green. Though Kerr conceded “everybody’s energy is affected by what’s going on in the group, Green dismissed the long-term implications.
“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. “This only makes Kevin, myself, the rest of my teammates stronger, that’s what it’s going to do. You think you saw something before, good luck with us now. We’re not going to crumble off an argument. We’re going to move forward.”