Warriors would have preferred week off, but ‘we’re not senior citizens’
SAN FRANCISCO — It was only two weeks ago that Draymond Green touted the benefits of a few days off, noting just how “rejuvenated” his Warriors teammate, Stephen Curry, looked after a brief absence with a pelvic contusion.
By Sunday evening, with their hopes of a team-wide week off dashed by three home losses, Green struck a different tone.
“We’re not senior citizens,” he said after a 124-119 overtime defeat that sealed Golden State’s fate as a play-in team. “No disrespect to the senior citizens, by the way. We love our senior citizens. But we aren’t there yet. We’ll be just fine.”
When it came down to it, the Warriors had to win five minutes of basketball to avoid playing another 48. They ran out of gas Sunday against the Clippers and must turn around Tuesday for a win-and-they’re-in game against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Every extra minute of wear and tear is worth noting for a team that fought tooth-and-nail the past two months to avoid this exact scenario.
“That’s what makes Tuesday’s game really important,” coach Steve Kerr said.
To Green’s point, the Warriors are hardly AARP members. “We’re high-level basketball players,” he added. “We train all year for this.” But they are the elder statesmen of the play-in tournament, if not the playoffs as a whole.
After all, there is only one other player seeking to add a fifth ring to his collection, and 40-year-old LeBron James will begin his pursuit with a full week to heal any lingering ailments. Curry, 37, won’t get the same benefit. Nor will the supporting cast that makes up the Western Conference’s senior-most remaining roster besides the Clippers (average age: 28.6).
“If we’re worried about that,” Curry said, “then we’re worried about the wrong stuff.”
“I just look at it as another opportunity to play the game we all love,” added Brandin Podziemski, 22.
Golden State was more concerned with overcoming a minus-17 rebounding deficit in Sunday’s loss (Memphis ranks second in the NBA; the Clippers are 17th) and its thorny history in two previous play-in experiences.
The Warriors are 0-3 all-time, but that was without Jimmy Butler III.
Butler led the Miami Heat all the way from the No. 7 seed to the NBA Finals in 2023. They even lost their first play-in game.
“We’re right where we want to be,” Butler said. “We still got an opportunity where we control our own fate. We’re going to be just fine.”
Butler, now 35, played nearly 40 minutes per game while averaging 26.9 points. 6.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists in the 2023 playoffs. He apparently helped manifest Miami’s run.
“He went into the play-in packing for two months,” Curry said. “We’d love to have that opportunity. … It’s going to take a lot. But I think we have it in the tank.”
Age isn’t the only thing working against the Warriors; they’re also banged up.
Butler experienced the other side of the play-in last year, when he sprained his knee in the Heat’s first game and had to miss the next round, and had a brief scare late in Sunday’s game. He began to heavily favor his right leg midway through the overtime period but said afterward he merely took a knee to the thigh and wasn’t concerned about his availability Tuesday.
Curry played Sunday’s game with his right thumb wrapped in athletic tape; he aggravated an issue that has bothered him all season when he jammed it into a defender’s leg late Friday at Portland and, to his credit, didn’t appear to let it affect him against the Clippers.
“I’m not worried about Steph,” Kerr said. “Sore thumb, and he goes 7-of-12 from 3 for 36 points. So, Steph is Steph.”
Even Green spent a portion of the first half in the locker room after appearing to tweak his neck on a fall before going on to play 38 minutes.
He was asked afterward if there was any upside to the quick turnaround.
“Rhythm, it kind of keeps you in the rhythm, the flow that you’ve been accustomed to all season,” Green said. “But there’s not much positive to us playing on Tuesday, other than we need to go win the game.”