Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green called out the team’s mental fortitude on Friday while speaking to reporters after practice. The Warriors are back in San Francisco after a disastrous road trip, during which they went 1-5 and lost Steph Curry for a month due to a shoulder injury.
“Right now, I think we are very fragile,” Green said. “You start going through these things and then you start believing them. Once you start believing them, it becomes who you are. The only way to break them is by being mentally tough.
“When you look back at [the win over the Celtics on Dec. 10], it was one where you feel like you can build some momentum now and it’s time to start turning the page. We did turn the page. It just went the wrong way as opposed to the right way.”
At 15-18, the Warriors currently sit in 11th place in the Western Conference, which leaves them outside of even the play-in tournament picture. Even before this rough road trip and Curry’s injury, this had been a frustrating start to the Warriors’ title defense.
Green acknowledged as much, saying the team has “struggled from the spirit perspective since [the road trip began]. He added that “It’s a bit more frustrating. … You can make what you want of it being on the road versus being at home, but it’s mental. It’s a team struggling mentally. And that makes it hard to overcome anything else.”
One factor for the team’s poor spirit, which Green failed to mention, is that he punched Jordan Poole in the face during training camp. The two both said the right things in the aftermath and pledged to move on, but that’s much easier said than done given the circumstances. There’s no way to quantify exactly how much that incident has affected the Warriors this season, but there’s no question that it changed the vibes.
If there’s any silver lining for the Warriors, it’s that no one has run away with the West. They’re still only 3.5 games out of a top-six spot, and 1.5 games out of the play-in tournament. While Green said that the Warriors’ issues can’t be fixed with the “snap of a finger,” he would still back his team come playoff time — as long as they can find a way in.
“I feel sorry for the 1- or 2-seeds if we’re in [the play-in tournament],” Green said.
The Warriors will host the Memphis Grizzlies at 8 p.m. ET on Christmas in one of the marquee games of the day. Despite Curry’s absence, it should be a fiery affair given the team’s competitive playoff matchup last season and Ja Morant’s recent comments that no team frightens him in the West.
