The Warriors’ fourth-quarter collapse in Game 1 of the NBA Finals allowed the Boston Celtics to take an early series lead on Thursday night, but Draymond Green remains calm, cool and collected.
As expected, Green took to his podcast the next morning and provided his takeaways from the loss. Even though he said he “failed” teammate Steph Curry during Friday's episode of “The Draymond Green Show,” the Golden State veteran isn’t overreacting to his team’s one-game-to-none deficit in the best-of-seven series.
“I don’t make too much of the loss. Obviously, you’re down 0-1 at home,” Green said. “I don’t think it’s time to press a panic button. At the end of the day, it is the first to four, not the first to one, two or three … They played a good game. You have to give them credit. I thought we played pretty good, or really good at times.
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“... I think we’ll respond right away.”
With Game 2 right around the corner on Sunday at Chase Center, the Warriors will study the tape from Thursday night’s loss and make adjustments, Green said.
The Celtics’ switch and pre-switch defense in the fourth quarter stifled a previously-potent Golden State offense -- something Green believes the Warriors can overcome during the second Finals matchup between the two teams.
“I think for the most part, offensively, we just need to continue to ensure that we don’t get stagnant,” he said.
Golden State Warriors
And when a team like Boston is able to stay within striking distance of the lead, Game 1 showed how quickly things can fall apart when the Celtics get hot. The fourth quarter saw Boston outscore the Warriors 40-16.
“Defensively, got to shut the water off on a team going on a run,” Green said. “Had to shut the water off. We didn’t shut the water off last night, and they got it going.”
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Golden State will have had two full days of rest to lick its wounds and come back fighting on Sunday, with hopes of taking at least one of the first two Finals games at Chase Center and heading to TD Garden in Boston with the series tied.
And in Draymond’s eyes, the Warriors are more than ready.
“I expect us to come out Game 2 with even a better focus than we came out with in Game 1,” Green said. “... There are some things that we can clean up, and I know that we will clean up.”