HOUSTON – As the Warriors flew back to Texas and prepared for Sunday’s Game 7 victory over the Rockets, Draymond Green spent the 48 hours in between matchups deeply remorseful.
“I spent the last two days embarrassed at what I gave to the game, what I gave the world,” Green recalled at the podium. “I was embarrassed, and I’ve been dying since the last game ended to get out on the floor and prove who I am.”
The Warriors forward is the team’s greatest defensive player, anchoring a unit that stifled the Rockets in a 103-89 victory that sent Golden State to the second round on Sunday.
He is also the squad’s emotional heartbeat, a mercurial figure whose fiery personality can keep his teammates focused on the task at hand during one game, and contribute to a Warriors meltdown with technical and flagrant fouls in another.
And during Game 6, which saw Golden State lose 131-116, his worst traits were on full display.
He had an early flagrant foul on Jalen Green, setting the tone for an awful night, the latest in a long line of postseason transgressions by the game’s most notable repeat offender.
Green had two flagrant fouls during the series, four technical fouls (including one in Game 7) and was the target of “(Expletive) you Draymond” chants in Houston.
Green was so bothered by what unfolded that he had “heart-to-heart” conversations with his wife, his close friends, his barber and even his college coach Tom Izzo.
After hours of reflection and discussion, Green gathered his teammates during the Warriors’ Saturday night dinner and fessed up.
“You can’t be a leader and not be accountable,” Green said. “You call other guys out, well, when their (expletive) stinks, you better say when yours does too.”
Buddy Hield said the emotional speech gave him chills. Hield’s good friend Jimmy Butler said the team took his apology and message to heart, with Butler noting that Green wasn’t the only one who needed to improve his leadership.
“I wasn’t being who I was, in a sense of pumping confidence into my guys,” Butler said. “I wasn’t doing that for the first six games. I wanted to make sure I was going to show that everything was going fine.”
Few athletes know Green better than longtime Hall of Fame teammate Steph Curry. The point guard appreciated Green’s candor.
“It was a level of awareness that matters at this stage of our careers,” Curry said. “Draymond started with himself, talking about having a level of poise and composure.”
Green did more than just talk about changing.
He altered his pregame routine, going to the spa, meditating and switching out soundtracks to feature more mellow tunes.
“I listened to (Tupac Shakur’s) ‘Check Out Time’ on the way to the game the other day, and that was the exact mindset I had going into that game,” Green said. “I wanted to change it up today, to Brent Faiyaz, SZA and 90’s R&B. Completely changed it up.”
And during morning shootaround, Green and coach Steve Kerr had what the player deemed “one of the better conversations” the two had ever engaged in, one that Green said he will “remember for the rest” of his life.
“I think his emotional stability tonight, just being poised from the start, I thought it set a great tone,” Kerr said.
Green might have dropped Tupac from the rotation, but he was still a Hellrazor on the floor. Green scored 16 points, had five rebounds, dished out four assists and swatted two blocks as the Warriors took down the Rockets.
Up next is Minnesota, a team with known Green adversaries in Rudy Gobert and Anthony Edwards.
Even against longtime antagonists, Green said his newfound sense of zen is here to stay in a series that starts on Tuesday.
“I have to keep it similar for my guys, forget everybody else,” Green said. “I need to be locked in and find that balance, finding that line and not crossing it. It is important for me and this team, and I gave them my word and I’ll continue to do that.”