OAKLAND — If you listened closely to Draymond Green’s interview after the Warriors’ 129-100 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, he told you exactly why the team struggled defensively.
“Kawhi got to his right hand every single play,” Green said. “Which, if you get him going left, he’s a completely different player. Now, I’m not saying he’s not a good player, but it’s a completely different ball game when you get him going with his left hand. We didn’t do that.”
Green’s never afraid to call a spade a spade, and the Warriors did a terrible job on Leonard. His 35 points were a career-high and he made all 15 of his free throws.
Also worth noting: Green was not in charge of guarding Leonard (full highlights here). That duty was split between Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala — the latter really had a poor night. Did the trio not execute the scouting report on Leonard, or was he just completely on fire?
Green was not completely innocent on defense either, though. LaMarcus Aldridge was hitting fadeaway jumpers in Green’s eye (26 points, 14 rebounds) and the NBA’s runner in up in the Defensive Player of the Year Award voting found himself out of position a handful of times on some Spurs layups inside. Green was also whistled for a technical foul for screaming after a dunk, something he did not apologize for.
“I’m going to continue to be me and whatever happens, happens,” Green said.
Tuesday was a buzz kill but was also something the players universally thought was a needed wake up call. If they are getting out-hustled, this is a basketball team that won’t be able to show up to the gym and blast an opponent in the ground.
“I don’t know if it was quite a bad thing for us,” Green said. “It’s one game, but at the same time, it showed us we have to get better, we have to compete at a higher level and we have to defend.”