Warriors-Lakers Game 4 reaction: Steph & Klay's misses + 3-1 deficit mindset | Draymond Green Show

In this solo episode of the Draymond Green Show, Draymond Green breaks down the Warriors’ 104‑101 loss to the Lakers in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals. He critiques the late‑game offensive execution, defends Steph Curry’s and Klay Thompson’s shot selections, and highlights the team’s defensive effort in wearing down LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Green introduces his “pressure‑flip” mindset, emphasizing that winning a single game shifts series pressure to the opponent, and stresses the importance of focusing on the next game rather than the series score. He evaluates key contributors from both sides, including Lonnie Walker’s fourth‑quarter surge, Austin Reaves’ penetration, and the impact of adding GP (Gary Payton II) to the lineup. Green also shares a personal health update, describing a head spill, concussion checks, and his history with epilepsy, underscoring his cautious approach to head injuries. The episode concludes with broader playoff commentary, noting the Heat’s 3‑1 lead over the Knicks, Jimmy Butler’s “super‑power” playmaking, and predictions for upcoming games. Throughout, Green maintains a confident, supportive tone, urging trust in the team and a relentless focus on execution.
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What's up everybody? It's Draymond Green. Make sure you subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel below so you don't miss any more of this great content going forward. What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. We are live on AMP. For everyone that's not listening on AMP, we're recording this episode Tuesday morning. Tough loss last night for the Dubs. We're gonna get into that. Talk a little bit about the other series before we get outta here. But for starters, let's just get straight into the game. How great have the playoffs been so far? You've heard me talk about all of these matchups and it's only gonna get better. If you're in a city that's still in it, you have to experience this for yourself. I know you've heard me say that, but I promise there is nothing like a playoff game live and in person. And Game Time is the way to get there. Game Time. For last minute amazing deals on tickets to your favorite NBA team, check out GameTime, the fastest growing ticketing app in the US. And it doesn't stop with the NBA. GameTime has tickets to MLB, NHL, even concerts and comedy shows too. Download the GameTime app and redeem code GREEN for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, download the GameTime app and enter code GREEN. That's G-R-E-E-N for $20 off. No matter where you live, get out and have some fun this week. Download Gametime today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Uh, Lakers took the game 104-101. Man, tough one. Very tough one. Had a 99-96 lead after Klay hit a 3 and the Lakers ended the game on an 8-2 run. And quite frankly, I thought we did enough to win the game up until the last 2 minutes or so, maybe even a minute and a half, 2 minutes. Our offensive execution wasn't there down the stretch, and that is on all of us. That's not on just Klay, that's not on just Steph. That's on all of us. And you know, I know everyone's talking about the Steph shot or a couple shots and the Klay couple shots. And quite frankly, I'm rolling with them guys. I'm rolling with them taking any shot that they feel is necessary. Could we have gotten a better one? Of course. But I'm rolling with the same guys I rolled in with. As I told you before, and if they make those shots, it's, oh my God, no one can shoot like them. They're the greatest shooters ever, which they are. And if you miss them, people talk, and that's just the business that we're in. And so, you know, you can question the shots all you want. That's fine. I get it. I understand it. But just know and understand that no one here is wavering at all. We riding with them. Yeah. No matter what. And you know, there's other things that we could have done in the game better. And you know, you gotta go watch the film and figure those things out and apply them tomorrow. Because guess what? It's the first of four, not the first of three. Whether it's 3-1, whether it's 3-0, no matter. It's the reason it's a 7-game series. It's the first of four. And we understand that. I think every game that you win from this point on, like every game, Period. Every game won in the series flips the pressure to the other team. The moment you win a game, the pressure flips to the other team. I don't care if it's game 1, I don't care if it's game 6. Only time the pressure doesn't flip to the other team is when you win game 7. Once game 7 is won, pressure doesn't flip to the other team. That team goes home, you move on. And that's just that. So for us, the goal is to win 1 game. We've been here before. We've been here before and we know what it takes. And like I said, the goal is to win one game. You go win one game, all the pressure flips. You go back to Crypto, 3-2, essentially puts them in a must-win situation. No one wants to go on the road for a game 7. Must-win situations are a little different than any other game. And so I think for us, the goal is always going to, be. And the goal right now is just to go win the next game. And like I said, I think we did a bunch of things to win the game and we just didn't execute down the stretch. Figure that out. I trust that we'll execute down the stretch as we always have. And you keep it pushing. Um, I thought we did an incredible job of wearing both AD and LeBron down. They played a ton of minutes, very high usage. I I thought we did a great job of wearing them down. In turn, they went to Lonnie Walker in the fourth quarter. Most cases, that's a win, you know, and it's still a win, by the way. Like, if you can stop them, stop LeBron from getting what shots he wants, stop AD from getting what shots he want, Lonnie Walker beat you, you kind of gotta live with it. Lonnie Walker had a huge fourth quarter, 15 points in the fourth quarter, which was all the points that he scored in the game. And you gotta tip your hat to him. That's a brother who stayed ready. Regardless of what's happened on their roster, I do find it very funny that all the questions and stuff about the Lakers rosters and the guys that they've been rolling with, for the most part, with the exception of D-Lo, Jared Vanderbilt hasn't played a ton in the last few games. The guys that they've been rolling with was the guys that was already on the roster. And so I just actually found that a bit funny, but— Yeah. Yeah, I think, you know, you tip your hat to Lonnie Walker. Like I said, that's a guy who's been in and outta the lineup, played a lot early on, didn't play much, then played a little more, then didn't play at all. And he stayed ready. And you know, you tip your hat to true professionals who stay ready when their number is called. And he did that on the biggest stage. On the biggest stage, he came through where we were right there at tying the series up 2-2. He came through and he beat us. So you gotta give him some credit. But like I said, in saying that, you know, when executing a defensive game plan, your goal is for LeBron James and for Anthony Davis not to beat you. I think for the most part, we did a pretty good job of that. LeBron finished with 27, AD finished with 23. And like I said, they played a ton of minutes and you're just trying to wear them down over the course of time. And I thought we did a pretty good job of that. There's other things that you can't take care of, I thought. Austin Reeves got a bunch of dribble penetration on us. You know, we had pretty much kept him in the bag the entire series. He got off, had a good game last night, 21 points on 7 for 15 shooting. We inserted GP into the lineup. I think GP did a great job on both sides of the ball. GP did a good job finishing. He did a good job playmaking. And he did a great job of taking D'Angelo back out of the series. He finished with 4 points on 1 of 10 shooting. Yeah. You know, continuing to keep D'Angelo out of the series will be very important going into tomorrow's game and for the rest of this series as we expect it to go 7. And I'm not wavering from that until I no longer see that it's possible to go on 7. Like I said, I trust where we are. I trust who we are. And I think that's what's most important in this situation. I trust who we are. I trust the dogs that I rode in with. Yeah. You gotta always trust that and know that in the toughest times we gonna deliver. And that's what we stand on. That's what we're about. That's what we've been about. That's not changing now. I thought early on in the game we did a great job of creating a bunch of great looks, bunch of great looks. And sometimes the ball just don't go in. I thought for the most part we had shot relatively well in this series. Shots just didn't go in as we created good looks. We ended up 12 for 41 from 3. The Lakers didn't shoot the 3 well either, which is why it's a pretty low scoring game. 104-101, which they end up, like I said, taking the game away. But, you know, we did some good things and no moral victories here. But what you do is you take those good things and you roll those over to the next game and try to correct the things that you didn't do so well. That's always the focus in the series. Took a hard spill last night, back of the head, was checked for a concussion. Checked out well. Gotta get checked again today. I feel great. So not expecting anything there, but especially as a kid that grew up having seizures, you know, those are things that I don't take lightly. And so whereas— Mm-hmm. You know, in a situation like this, you probably try to dodge the concussion test because who wants to sit out with a concussion, even if I was concussed? No one, especially in the situation that we're in. But like I said, with my history of epilepsy, I haven't had any issues, for those listening, since I was 13, 14 years old. I've been off medicine for epilepsy. Mm-hmm. For almost 5 years now, which is absolutely incredible for a kid that had been on medicine for first, maybe since I was 3 or 4 years old until I was 28. So when there are things to the head, I don't take them lightly just knowing that history. My grandma has been on my phone all day. My mom has been on my phone all night and through this morning. And obviously they're on the East Coast time. Um. My mom has been on my phone and then I have to go to the arena and get checked out again. But like I said, I feel great. I don't expect anything of it. Oh, the tests were incredible. I'll tell you what, one of the tests is like walking straight, like, you know, parallel or one foot behind another backwards and forward. And I just don't understand, like, that's tough for me. Anyway, like, that's a test that they do when people are intoxicated, and I just don't understand how that's the test because I am a professional athlete and I struggle with that test. Like, that's more of a balance test, just testing your balance. And quite frankly, balancing is tough, especially when you've had the amount of ankle injuries and all the things that basketball players have had. It is tough. So when people are doing that— I was doing that test last night and I'm like, man, this Like this is just a tough test. Like trying to, I don't know. But like I said, I passed all of the concussion tests, so that was great. And I feel great. And we got nothing to lose. Down 3-1, you come out swinging. Go down swinging if you do go down, but we not going down. But you leave that court with no regrets. Mm-hmm. And like I said, you win one game, series flips, pressure flips, everything flips. So that's our goal. Klay will play better. I have no doubt in my mind. I'll play better. Steph had an incredible game. Expect more of the same or even more from him. And everybody else will play great. Moses Moody's been giving us great minutes. Dante gave us some good minutes last night. GP gave great minutes. Loon, when Loon's in there, he's giving great minutes. Wiggs was aggressive. Like, listen, I'm living with it. And we just didn't make the plays we needed to make down the stretch to win the game. We'll make those plays. I have no doubt in my mind. So I'm looking forward to tomorrow, taking this thing 3-2 and heading back to LA. Be a fun time. Really fun time. You gotta love these moments. You cannot only be good when it's good. As I've told you before, we call those front runners, and front runners we are not. So you take it on the chin, you get 'em their credit, and you bounce back. And that's what we will do, and it'll be fun doing it. The Heat took a 3-1 lead. Jimmy Butler, 27, 10, and 6. Jimmy Butler, I think one of the most underrated things in the playoffs that Jimmy Butler does is Jimmy Butler is going to make sure they get at least a decent look every possession. If he has to hold the ball for 22 seconds and get it to someone with 2 seconds left on the shot clock, he's going to make sure that they get a decent look. And I think that's one of Jimmy's superpowers when it comes, you know, everybody's always talking about playoff Jimmy and this and that. That is a huge part of it. It's just his pace and his strength. Like you're not stopping Jimmy from getting to a spot that Jimmy wants to get to because he got speed, he has deceptiveness, he has strength. He gets to a spot that he want to get to and he has incredible elevation on his jump shot. Great footwork, pivots and all the things. Jimmy is going, and then he's a very good passer. And so Jimmy's gonna make sure they get good shots and they are dominating the Knicks right now. They are really dominating them. It's crazy to think they gave the game away. Yeah. Without Jimmy, they still should have won that game. If you're the Cleveland Cavaliers, you have to be watching this and questioning yourself like, wait, we thought Miami was this, blah, blah, blah, where they're now doing this to the Knicks and the Knicks did this to us. You have to be questioning yourself a little bit or just like, you know, what's the move or where does it go? I think that's an interesting one. But like I said, not surprised at all by Jimmy. Bam has been playing better. Max Strus, Gay, K-Love playing better or playing well. They picked him up at the, on the buyout market. He's playing well. Kallo has been playing great off the bench. Putting it together, man. You gotta tip your hat to the Heat. I actually think they'll go to New York and get it done in 5. Julius Randle just hasn't been able to find it. And as I told y'all last game, that's just a, that's a tough defense for Julius to go. Like Julius plays almost a muddied up game. Like it's physical, it's in a crowd and Miami thrives on that. So now you got Julius taking step back threes and like, you know, you get a couple of those when you got it going. But when you just taking those to try to get it going, it's tough, tough. So we'll see what happens there. But I got the Heat closing it out in 5 in the Garden. 5-4. It's gonna be loud in the garden, but I got them doing it. What's up everybody? It's Draymond Green. Make sure you subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel below so you don't miss any more of this great content going forward.
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