Can the Warriors continue to withstand Draymond Green’s antics? | No Cap Room

Yahoo Sports senior NBA reporter Jake Fischer and senior NBA writer Dan Devine discuss how Golden State has walked the tightrope that is Draymond Green this season after the power forward’s early ejection in the Warriors’ win over the Orlando Magic. Hear the full conversation on “No Cap Room” - part of the “Ball Don’t Lie” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

Video transcript

JAKE FISCHER: Draymond Green being ejected early yet again. And I guess all I have to say on that is at least it was because he was arguing with an official and not physically damaging an opponent. That's the one positive to say maybe.

DAN DEVINE: Yeah, I mean, baby steps, right? Baby steps in terms of we're all trying to get better. We're all working on things. As Kelly Oubre said, we're all trying to represent God in the best way we can. And you know, Draymond didn't get there last night. Yeah, no one got yoked, so there's something to be said for that.

You could just see-- it was less than four minutes into the game. And the Warriors have been-- they've had some blow-out losses. They are now seeing the Rockets racing up behind them. They're so-- this is a team that we expect so much of. They expect so much of themselves. And for them to be like, can we cling to 10th is just like-- they're in such dire straits there.

And so for this to be the way that game starts, it's so deflating. You could see the clip-- and I think I saw it through NBC Sports Warriors, that Twitter account. But it's all over the place, Steph Curry's reaction after Draymond gets run. And he's got his jersey over his face. He's shaking his head. He's staring at the ground. Bruce Fraser coming over, patting him on the back. The amount-- the amount of frustration--

JAKE FISCHER: And he did maul Patty Mills the night before. That's a very-- that's part of the context of the ref joke I made.

DAN DEVINE: Yeah. No, fair, fair. And I mean-- and to do that to Patty Mills, of all people, my goodness. But you felt the weight of all of the time Steph Curry has been going to bat for Draymond. And all of-- everything that everybody has said. They go to the mattresses for him because they know he's worth it. They go the extra mile for him because they know he's worth it.

And I know I've written about it earlier in the season. We've talked about it ad nauseam, that feeling of he is the person who gives them their sort of snarl and their edge and also just high-level defensive play that was absent when he was gone. He makes the offense click in a different way. But then when the double-edged sword cuts you, like it did there, you could just see how hard that was for Steph.

And then after the game, he's asked what he can say about it, you know, what his reaction was, what the frustration was. And it was just, all I'll say is we need him. He knows that. We all know that. So whatever it takes to keep him on the floor and be available, that's what's got to happen. You don't want to have self-inflicted wounds.

And that's the state of affairs for them. They cannot afford them. They have left themselves no margin for error in that, due in large part to how much of this season has been a self-inflicted wound incurred from Draymond Green.

And that they're able to pull out the win-- the next thing Steph said after that, though, was how extremely proud he was of everybody else that pulled in the same direction to get that win, to bounce back after that deflating ejection, and get them moving in the right direction to take that win. That's the kind of stuff they hope to be able to build on.