In a candid interview, Draymond Green breaks down the Warriors' recent loss to the Brooklyn Nets, focusing on why head coach Steve Kerr chose to sit Steph Curry in the fourth quarter. Green attributes the defeat primarily to the team "running out of gas"—a combination of physical fatigue and mental slippage that leads to execution errors, especially on defense. He explains that fatigue can cause players to make subtle mistakes that are obvious in film but not always visible in real time. Green also discusses how losses can expose weaknesses that are hard to address when the team is winning, emphasizing the need for the squad to confront these issues before a tougher schedule arrives. Green delves into Kerr's coaching philosophy, noting that minutes are pre‑planned and that Kerr, a nine‑time champion (five rings as a player, four as a coach), is unlikely to overreact to a regular‑season loss by forcing Curry back in. He references a past incident where a coach (Mike D'Antoni) re‑inserted a rookie Blake Griffin in a preseason game, leading to a knee injury, to illustrate the danger of rushing players back in. Green argues that benching Curry was a protective decision, allowing younger players (e.g., Looney, Podolski, Waters, Kyle Anderson) to gain experience in closing out games. Throughout the conversation, Green stresses the importance of learning from the loss, maintaining confidence, and avoiding the temptation to sacrifice long‑term health for a single win. He frames the benching as part of a broader development strategy rather than a sign of panic, and he reaffirms his belief that the Warriors will adjust and improve as the season progresses.
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The biggest story coming outta that game is Kerr having Steph bench while the Nets made a run. Do you think that should be the story? And can you pinpoint what the fuck happened?
All right, so most definitely. Number one, both games, I think both of them, we just ran outta gas in the end. I think, you know, I'm not one to make excuses, but running outta gas mean you get a little tired, you get slippage in your execution. You know what I'm saying? It ain't just like, oh, I'm tired, I can't run up the court. It's not that. Like, we're professional athletes, we're well conditioned. You're fine from that standpoint. But it's sometimes when the fatigue hits, you lose your brain, you know, and you start making mistakes that maybe the naked eye won't be able to see, but we know right away it's a mistake. When you watch the film, you know all, like, and so, you know, I think we ran into a little bit of that.
And I have to say this, sorry teams don't get tired.
Facts.
You know what I mean? Especially when they got momentum. You know what I'm saying? 'Cause they gotta keep playing. 'til the game is over. And then all of a sudden, if they get some momentum, they didn't think they was gonna win in the first place. So they got all the energy to finish out a game and they got 8 dudes on the bench dying to get in. You know what I mean? To pour in where, you know, I think you guys, I was watching, I was watching the game and it was just blowbys, right? Like I haven't seen all year where You know, you just getting beat off the dribble. And I think it's, you playing defense, this is how you play defense. You tired, you want to get up and force the issue. You know what I mean? But then at the same time, you just a half a step slower than what you usually are.
You know what I mean? 100%. So our trap the box there, our trap the box guy wasn't there, who's been there all year. Our trap the box guy wasn't there all night. Right? And so you start to go through that. But what I will say is this, sometimes it takes some losses like the last couple games we've lost to get better. And for us, you know, you sitting at 12-3, everybody, ah, the Warriors back, they this, they that. You can start to feel yourself. And especially like, like us where— Sure. You got a few guys that's done it and a lot of guys that haven't, you know what I'm saying? And so you can also have those guys feeling like, oh, I know these guys have done it and look what we doing now. Like, and then you can also have us as leaders like, here we go again. And you can start feeling yourself like, and so—
Yeah.
You have some slippage and at times you can stop getting better. And so I think for us, there's some things that we need to address that when you winning, it's hard to address those things because everybody feeling good about themselves. When you lose, then it's time to address them things and you get an opportunity to address some things.
Yeah.
And everyone's listening, right? Everyone's all ears because everyone wants to turn it around. And so I don't think these two losses are the worst thing for us. Like they, they come at a good time for us where now we got a tough part of the schedule. You gotta show what you made of. You know what I'm saying?
You gotta lock in.
Bingo. And show what you made of. And I trust and I know that this team will do that, but it's an opportunity for us to grow. And it's game 17. Nobody's panicking now, so.
Yeah, nobody's in a pressure situation. I think when you talk about running outta gas, I always say it's 2 buckets and 2 stops, right? When you gotta lead like that.
Yep.
And if you can get 2 buckets and 2 stops, you win the game by 12. You mad, you win the game by 8, you upset. It's still, but to your point, it's the same issue, right? And so this team coming back is not a result of just we ran outta gas. It's like, okay, we are 2 buckets and 2 stops away from like not having to worry about this team.
Yeah.
Same thing with San Antonio. Big lead coming off a back-to-back. Y'all look like y'all just, ran outta gas, right? But it's also understanding that no, we not gonna run outta gas. You know what I mean? We're gonna end the game 'cause the drive is over.
Exactly.
You know what I mean? And when you got young guys, when you got young guys, it's good for them to be in that situation, right? You, Steph, you know what I mean? Looney, the vets, y'all understand like, damn, we gave that away. You know what I mean? But at the same time, there's gonna be 3 or 4 more situations where it's gonna be Podolski, Waters, Kyle Anderson, you know what I mean? GP3. One of those dudes gonna click and be like, oh no, fuck that. You know what I mean? GP2. Yeah, I call him 3. I call him 3.
No, for sure. 100%. And listen. Like I said, we'll be fine. Now I do wanna address what you asked about Steph because that seems to come up a lot and every time, you know, it backfires, everybody go crazy. But I'ma just, Steve, like, and by the way, just about every coach in the NBA that I know of, they have the minutes slotted. Like your minutes going into the game are already slotted.
Yeah.
Now what y'all have to understand about Steve is this. When everybody go crazy, and I'll be honest, it's something that we had to understand playing for him because as a competitor, you like, yo, like put me in the game. And like now, you never, he never really get that from, he never get that from us anymore because man, we've been with Steve for 10 years. Like we, we know who Steve is. We know what he gonna do. And so here's what people should understand about Steve. This is our 11th year with Steve as our coach. Steve has, and let me not get this wrong, 9 championship rings.
Mm.
No, 10. No, 9. Steve Kerr has 9 championship rings. He has 5 as a player. He has 4 as a coach. Why did I tell you Steve Kerr have 9 championship rings? The reason I'm telling you Steve Kerr has 9 championship rings is because on a regular season game on Monday, in November. Steve Kerr is not going to overreact to what the minutes are on already what's been a tough last 5 days for us. Overreact to a league going away and put Steph back in the game or myself back in the game because the team on the run. He ain't doing that. So everybody going crazy like, ah, if this was a playoff game, you bet your bottom dollar all of us would've been right back in the game like that.
Absolutely.
It's a soft Monday in, in November versus the Nets. Okay, they beat us. It sucks.
We all hate to lose. It means something, but it don't mean nothing. But you're not risking injury to Steph Curry because you fucked up in his head. You live to play another game. You know what I mean? It's the long journey. Man, I remember I played, do you remember the year that Blake was out? That, I think his rookie year. We was playing a preseason game against New Orleans. Game over. Right. I'm on the bench, we start, okay, we look good. We about to be all right with this rookie, right? I'm sitting on the sideline, bro, I'm laying on the floor watching the game. Blake sitting in the chair. They come back in the fourth quarter. Mike Dunleavy go, "Hey, let's go." We like, "Huh?" He like, "Man, let's go. We gotta get this win." Like, "What win? It's the preseason." Bro, he puts us back in the game. I'm like, "Coach, I don't think this is a good idea." Blake Griffin hurts his knee. Wow.
Is that what happened?
I did not know that. Bro, that is what happened. That is exactly what happened.
Wow.
He put him back in the game in the preseason and that's how our shit got fucked up.
Wow.
That's how his first year got fucked up. And it was like, why are you putting him in the game, bro? The game is over. He did what he was supposed to do. It's the preseason. So now you think about, you know, with Steph in regular season, now I hope everybody understand, like, it's okay, you know what I mean? Because the young guys gotta learn to finish the game.
It's okay. Everybody— You have 21.
Everyone who's in there— Young dude, some young dude, Moody, Moody, go to work. You know what I mean? Somebody go to work. That is your chance.
Everybody out there on that court who was out there when we lost the lead, we're going to need if we wanna reach our ultimate goal. If you think the right thing to do is to snatch them out, to kill their confidence, to put Steph in harm's way because you're chasing a win on Monday night—
A win.
In November.
It ain't gonna work.
You won't end up with 9 championships, I can tell you.
