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The Hospital Dubs may not be winning, but they are growing, and Draymond Green is helping the process yield results.
Even though the Golden State Warriors didn’t finish the job against the Boston Celtics at home last night, the team’s new defensive lineup and response to losing yet another player in D’Angelo Russell (sprained thumb) impressed the eight-year veteran.
In particular, the team’s young roster stepped up in a big way, nearly stealing the match from Boston. “They’re getting more and more comfortable with more experience and they’re learning how to be more physical,” Green explained (via Let’sGoWarriors).
“When you’re physical as a young guy you rack up a lot of fouls”, he continued. “They’re learning how to do that without fouling which is key for us.”
Concerning the team’s new defensive approach, the Michigan native said, “I do like the lineup. We’re switching a little more which I think keeping the ball out of the paint … was key tonight. Trying to keep the ball out of the paint and we did a better job of that.”
Warriors’ D’Angelo Russell sprains thumb in latest loss (VIDEO) https://t.co/RzuvvWBlxA
— Kurt Helin (@basketballtalk) November 16, 2019
Green was specifically called on by coach Steve Kerr to initiate the offense more after Russell went down with a sprained thumb in the third quarter. The ploy worked surprisingly well, and may be something they turn to more in the future. “We’ll see where it goes when [Russell] is back and if he’s not I’ll have to handle it even more”, he offered.
“I thought it worked pretty well for us tonight. We gave ourselves the chance to win the game and make some plays down the stretch, some things that we can get better and tighten up on but overall I thought it was pretty solid for us.”
With so many key players unavailable, the team will need to get creative in the hopes of stealing some games from unwary opponents like Boston, who seemed to think they’d be facing a team unwilling or unable to put up a fight early in Friday night’s game.
While it would be easy to take games off in light of the team’s current situation, Green and the rest of the Warriors have no such intentions, even in the midst of the worst losing streak the team has faced under Steve Kerr’s tenure.
“It sucks to keep seeing guys go down but we got that bug right now so we have to keep fighting and do all we can to stay healthy,” said Green.
“Sometimes [expletive] just happens.”
Indeed it does — and in bunches, evidently.