The Golden State Warriors are now seven wins away from accomplishing their ultimate goal of winning an NBA championship. After sweeping the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round, and taking care of the Memphis Grizzlies in the conference semifinals, the Warriors got out to a 1-0 series lead on Tuesday night with a 110-106 win over the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference Finals.
This is the Warriors first appearance in the conference finals since 1976, and the stage has never been bigger for these Warrior players, who only have one player on their roster (Leandro Barbosa) who has experienced a playoff run this deep.
For the Warriors, a concern all year long has been complacency. After they dominated during the regular season, many wondered if their confidence would be too high, thinking they may start overlooking some opponents. So far, that has not been the case.
On Monday before game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, Draymond Green appeared on KNBR with Tom Tolbert and Ray Ratto and talked about not looking ahead too much.
“Everybody is completely locked in and ready to go. This is a great time of year, it’s fun,” Green said on the air, “Human nature, in the back of your head you know that you’re four games away from playing in the NBA Finals. Obviously you’ve got to take it one game at a time which is very important but it’s going to be in the back of your head”
In the regular season, the Warriors swept the Rockets in four games by a combined 61 points. Green spoke about the fact that once the playoffs start, the regular season doesn’t matter.
“At this point in the year, nobody is complacent. With what happened in the regular season, yeah we beat them four times, [but] the last time we played them was almost four months ago. So that’s not fresh in our minds at all. That’s like a whole year.
“It’s playoff basketball. I don’t care if we beat them by 40 four times, it’s just not the same.”
In Game 1, Green had 13 points, 12 rebounds, and 8 assists all in 43 minutes of action. The Warriors will look to take a 2-0 series lead when they take on the Rockets for game 2 of the Western Conference Finals on Thursday.
More quotes from Green:
- Post-Game 1 TV interview with ESPN: “Coach told me that this is a triple double series“
- Post-Game 1 locker room: Draymond on Harden: “It seemed like — he *did* hit everything it didn’t ‘seem like’…”
- “‘My uncle taught me to be a point guard as a kid,’ Green said. ‘I was the biggest kid in the city, playing the point. So it’s just something you continue to work on. Keep it in the arsenal.'” — Sherwood Strauss, ESPN.com
- “‘You got to hold your ground against (Dwight Howard),’ Green said. ‘He’s power. He’s very strong, so if you hold your ground, he gets to trying to back you down so hard, it’s hard for him to spin off you…So just try to hold your ground and let him shoot as opposed to letting him bang it to the rim for dunks.” — Ray Ratto, CSN Bay Area
- ““Coach told me, ‘You’re probably going to have open shots, but you’re going to have to pick and choose when to take those open shots,” Green said after Wednesday’s practice. “You might have an open shot, but if you put the ball down one time and get in the paint, someone else is going to be wide open.’ He explained it, and it kind of worked out that way.”” — Rusty Simmons, San Francisco Chronicle
- Green downplays Game 1 incident with Trevor Ariza: “Ariza is kind of their me, and he’s a very emotional leader, he’s the X factor, he’s just that guy who kind of does a lot for them.”
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @tara.funk)
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