SAN FRANCISCO — Draymond Green shrugged off his 2-of-12 shooting night with the confidence that comes from winning three previous NBA championships.
Going 0 for 4 on 3-point shots didn’t rattle him, either.
“Yeah, I missed some bunnies,” Green said of open shots after Thursday’s 120-108 loss that opened the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics. “My threes felt good. You know, I’ll continue to stay aggressive.
“They will fall. You know, tonight, they didn’t.”
He speaks from experience. Consider his opening-game efforts in his five previous trips to the NBA Finals:
2015, vs. Cleveland (win): 4-of-13 shooting (0 for 3 from 3), 12 points
2016 vs Cleveland (win): 5-of-11 shooting (2 for 6), 16 points
2017, vs. Cleveland (win): 3-of-12 shooting (1 for 5), 9 points
2018 vs. Cleveland (win): 5-of-9 shooting (2 for 5), 13 points
2019, at Toronto (loss): 2-of-9 shooting (0 for 2), 10 points
Compounding Green’s off-night was an 0-for-4 showing at the free-throw line.
Overall, the Warriors were only minus-1 in point differential when Green was on the floor. But the NBA’s annual All-Defensive forward didn’t show up as the Celtics surged in the fourth quarter.
He did grab 11 rebounds to go along with five assists and two steals, but he also committed three of the Warriors’ six turnovers. Green’s defensive spacing — along with other Warriors’ woes — invited Al Horford to make 6 of 8 3-point shots for a team-high 26 points.
Green isn’t supposed to be the offensive savior, but he and others did little else on the other end to avoid trouble.
A 15-point Warriors’ lead in the third quarter was not enough to withstand an 18-0 run by the Celtics late in the fourth quarter. An offensive foul by Green helped thwart the Warriors’ own comeback with 1:59 remaining, and he fouled out in the final minute.
“I think they stayed within striking distance, and they made shots late,” Green said. “So we’ll be fine. We’ll figure out the ways we can stop them from getting those threes and take them away.
“But no, I don’t think it was a rhythm thing. We pretty much dominated the game for the first 41, 42 minutes. So we’ll be fine.”
They’ll be back on the Chase Center court Sunday night for Game 2. This was the Warriors’ first playoff loss on their 3-year-old court, after going 9-0 there en route to the Western Conference title the past month.
“Well, it’s never fun and it hurts on the biggest stage, obviously, but like Draymond said, there’s no reason to panic,” Klay Thompson said. “I like our chances still, and we’ll go home and we’ll digest what happened. I know we’ll be better Game 2.”
Green’s shooting in previous Game 2s in the NBA Finals: 25 of 51.
Once Thursday’s implosion ended, Green got up from the bench and walked over to high-five Curry, who wiped sweat from his face and stared at the Celtics’ celebration. Curry was the last Warrior to leave the court.
How do Green and the Warriors recover from this stinker?
Curry’s answer: “Just being honest about what went wrong and holding each other accountable and coming out with another level of effort and desperation that we need to protect our home court on Sunday and gain some momentum in the series.
“So obviously our core, we have been through this a couple times. You know, you lose in the first game of a series but we have obviously had some tough losses in the series and you find a way to bounce back. You have to rely on that experience but it’s also just making the necessary game plan adjustments and coming out with a focused effort that everybody can kind of feel like they are going to impact the game at some point.”
