Enough time has passed that Draymond Green is ready to let everyone know how he really felt about being “benched” during Game 4 of the NBA Finals last season.
Green was pulled from the crucial game during the seven minute mark of the fourth quarter, and spent four minutes on the bench as Golden State took the lead over the Boston Celtics. Green eventually returned for a few quick stretches in the game’s closing minutes as the Warriors extended their lead, eventually winning the game.
Green didn’t say much at the time about being pulled off the floor, but he admitted his displeasure on the latest episode of Uninterrupted’s “Throwing Bones.”
“I even got benched in Game 4,” Green began. “I got offense/defense subbed — by the way, I felt like that was disrespectful as f–k.
“But, it’s cool. Like, I didn’t take it personal because the only thing that was important to me was to win a championship.”
Green said if the Warriors had lost the game, things may have gone differently.
“Afterwards, I had to take myself to a place of, like, don’t go down that road, because for me, that road can get ugly,” Green said. “So for me, I’m like, ‘All right, I got benched. We won. I’m cool.’
“Had I got benched and we lost, though, I’m not sure I would have handled it well.”
Steve Kerr has minimized the situation in the past, saying that he never planned for Green to stay on the bench, but kept him off the floor because the Warriors were playing so well.
“In the NBA if you find a group that works, then you stick with it and it doesn’t matter who is on the floor. You can’t worry about anybody’s feelings being hurt or anything like that,” Kerr said on the “Point Forward” podcast.
“Sure enough, when the run ended and we went back to him, he was great and made huge plays down the stretch and it all worked out.”