WARRIORS PRACTICE FACILITY, OAKLAND, CA — Yesterday at morning shootaround, Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry described Oracle Arena’s crowd as “rambunctious”, but it was a more appropriate description of Draymond Green‘s media gaggle.
[CLICK ON THE LEFT AND RIGHT ARROWS ON THE PHOTO ABOVE TO SEE THE SLIDESHOW/GALLERY]But before getting to the quotes that made Green the second-most trending topic on Twitter by midday, here were some highlights from the shootaround:
Shaun Livingston sported a band-aid under his right eye. No news on any possible injury, however, and he did play later in the Denver Nuggets preseason game that night.
Livingston practiced post-up moves and so did power forward Jason Thompson:
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Stephen Curry wore his #TeamUSA #CurryTwo Under Armour colorways and continued with his assortment of three-pointers and finger rolls:
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Not all was rosy, though. He even missed badly on a lefty runner, hitting the side of the backboard in the process [FULL 90-SECOND VIDEO]. He yelled, “Ahhhh!” in frustration did not curse.
Curry took the interviewee’s chair first and, after Klay Thompson fired back at Doc Rivers and the Los Angeles Clippers four days prior, reporters felt the need to take Curry’s temperature on the topic.
“I apologize for us being healthy,” said Curry. “I apologize for us playing who was in front of us. I apologize for all the accolades we received as a team and individually. I’m very, truly sorry, and we’ll rectify that situation this year.”
Curry was also asked about the team’s visit with President Barack Obama three days ago at a Democratic Party fundraiser at The Warfield in San Francisco. Curry recalled how Obama told him Draymond Green was the President’s favorite player and how, when Green walked by, Obama shouted, “My man!” to get Green’s attention.
With regard to the first game back at Oracle Arena that night in preseason game Number Three against the Denver Nuggets, Curry said he expected the crowd to be “rambunctious”:
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As Thompson had done at his interview, Curry returned to the “lucky team” subject once more after leaving off the chair, with one final, “I’m very, very sorry” quip before walking off.
Here’s the full video of the “apology”, filmed by radio station KNBR, which ironically was the only camera crew present:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Wi8zDC7-CU&w=560&h=315]Reporters then moved over to another chair on which Green, who had been giving a one-on-one interview to Ethan Sherwood Strauss of ESPN.com, was sitting.
Before launching into his headline-grabbing verbal assault on Warriors naysayers, Green confirmed the President’s “My man” gesture:
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As Steve Kroner of the San Francisco Chronicle reported:
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The president apparently let Green know Saturday.
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Said Green: “As I walked up, he was like, ‘My man. My guy. My favorite player, how are you doing?’ That was pretty dope to me. …
“With all the stuff he has to take care of, I’m always surprised and shocked at just about how much he knows about the game. He knows everybody’s name. It’s not something that you can script, put it like that. Sometimes stuff is scripted — and you know when something’s scripted. It’s pretty cool.”
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Then the hits just kept on coming from Green (and reporters’ Twitter accounts):
- Draymond on a certain team: “If they saying that, they ain’t the champs”
- Draymond: if they’re saying that, they’re not the champs. There’s some bitterness and some saltiness going around.
- Draymond Green compared all those disrespecting to scorned bitter females.
- Draymond: these salty teams are like a bitter females. You ever deal with one that’s scorned? Worst thing in the world.
- Draymond Green: “It’s funny. It’s like a bitter female. Like, you ever dealt with a bitter female that’s just scorned? God! That’s rough.”
However despite Green’s tirade, he defended #DubNation to the hilt:
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Here’s the full rant from Green as filmed by KNBR:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89wcVrz4URI&w=560&h=315]Suffice it to say, Curry’s “rambunctious” description of #Roaracle might have been more appropriate for Green on this morning.
On the way out, reporters were headed to the hallway (aka “The Blue Mile”) to file their reports:
- Draymond fires back with analogy to describe Warriors haters
- Warriors fire back against ‘they were lucky’ chatter
- Draymond Green, Stephen Curry fire back at critics of Warriors’ title
After being seen at a previous practice shooting around in sweats, rookie Kevon Looney, still rehabbing his hip that he had surgery on in the summer, rebounded the ball for various Warriors shooters:
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(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @poormanscommish)
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