Steve Kerr's bold decision late in the fourth quarter appeared to have paid off.
In the Warriors' 107-97 win over the Boston Celtics in Game 4 of the NBA Finals at TD Garden on Friday night, Warriors forward Draymond Green was on and off the floor multiple times throughout the fourth quarter.
Green started the quarter on the floor before leaving for an Andrew Wiggins substitution with 7:32 remaining. Draymond would re-enter the game with 3:41 remaining before leaving again just 20 seconds later for Jordan Poole. Green entered the game again with 3:05 remaining before leaving again for Poole with 56 seconds remaining. Draymond would enter one final time with 47 seconds remaining to close out the game.
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SIGN UP HERE The back-and-forth substitutions played to Kerr and the Warriors' advantage and helped put the best lineup on the floor for certain situations down the stretch.
Hall of Famer and current Warriors analyst for NBC Sports Bay Area, Chris Mullin, believes that Kerr made the right choice with how he used Draymond in the fourth quarter.
"I'll tell you what, Steve Kerr made the tough decision but I thought it was the right decision," Mullin said after the game on "Warriors Live: Playoff Edition." "It just seemed like offensively there was more spacing and they got their rhythm and once they got the lead, then Steve Kerr went to the offensive-defensive switching bringing Draymond Green on for defense to get stops and then bringing Jordan Poole back in for offense."
As you can expect, Draymond the competitor wasn't thrilled about sitting late in the fourth quarter but rolled with what his coach had planned.
"Definitely never thrilled coming out of the game with seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter of a must-win game," Green told reporters after the game. "I'm not going to sit here and act like I was thrilled, I'm a competitor. But, at the end of the day if that's what coach decides then you roll with it. I had to keep my head in the game and whenever I went back in, try and make some plays.
"That was just my mindset, don't make too much of it. I've always been on the bandwagon of if you've got something in this role and you stick with it. It is what it is."
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The Warriors are competitors through and through. No player ever is thrilled about leaving the game in crunch time, but at the end of the day, Kerr will make the decisions based on what he believes will allow Golden State to squeak out a win.
For a struggling Draymond, the move wasn't an easy pill to swallow, but at the end of the day, a win is all that matters.