The Warriors are NBA Finals-bound for the sixth time in the last eight seasons and forward Draymond Green opened up about those two years that his team didn’t make the Finals. Those two seasons, 2019–20 and 2020–21, Golden State failed to even make the playoffs.
When asked what his darkest day was by Andscape’s Marc J. Spears, Green recalled that two-year time-frame and last season’s loss to the Lakers in the play-in tournament.
“I think not making the playoffs last year,” he said. “Because the bubble season, at that point I had already moved on mentally from that [2019–20] season. I was not tripping about not being in the bubble. I was with my family, it was incredible. But I think last year, really after losing that play-in to the Lakers, that was a dark day.”
Last season, Klay Thompson still hadn’t recovered from his Achilles injury and the Warriors had to fight for their playoff lives but came up short against LeBron James & Co. The team’s season came to an end two days later, with an overtime play-in loss to the Grizzlies.
“And that for me is like, that was a dark moment for me because I just didn’t think that team should’ve beat us,” Green continued. “And they did. And then there was two years not in the playoffs. … Of course, I had some dark days in 2020, but we sucked so bad I just moved on from it.”
The Warriors finished last season 39–33 but turned it around thanks to the return of Thompson and the emergence of Jordan Poole this past year. Golden State finished 53–29 and have a shot at winning a fourth NBA championship in eight years.
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