“Warriors Face Must-Win Game 3 Without Suspended Draymond Green”

Suspended for Game 3 of the first round series between the Warriors and the Kings, Draymond Green will be greatly missed by Steve Kerr’s team tonight. History has indeed taught us that Golden State could really struggle without its emotional leader. Knowing that the defending champion is trailing 2-0 by Sacramento, it falls rather badly…

Draymond Green couldn’t have come up with a worse time to get suspended. Whether the NBA sanction is justified or not, the reality is that the Warriors will have to do without one of their centerpieces in a real must-win game tonight in San Francisco. As a reminder, never Dubs of the Stephen Curry era had only been trailing 2-0 in a series, and never has a team managed to overturn a 3-0 deficit in the entire history of the Playoffs. They are therefore more than ever with their backs to the wall.

Breaking: Draymond Green has been suspended one game without pay for stepping on the chest of Domantas Sabonis, the NBA announced. pic.twitter.com/FzllzhyRl2

— ESPN (@espn) April 19, 2023

This Thursday, Draymond will only miss his second career Playoff game. We all remember the first: it was Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals between the Warriors and the Cavaliers, also because of a suspension. A suspension that precipitated the fall of Golden State, leading 3-1 in the series before falling 4-3 against the band of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.

But while Draymond Green has only missed one career PO game, he’s missed quite a few in the regular season over the past two years. 36 in total in the 2021-22 campaign, nine in 2022-23. The record of the Warriors on these 45 games? Only 22 wins for 23 defeatsagainst a 75-44 record with Green on the floor in those two seasons.

Translation: the Warriors without Draymond, they are not really the Warriors.

“I’ve said it many times. We wouldn’t have won a single title without Draymond Green. It’s the truth. He has crossed the line many times over the years, that’s part of it. But we’re going to fight for Draymond, and he’s someone you want to fight alongside every day.”

– Warriors coach Steve Kerr, before Game 3

Steve Kerr’s words are enough to sum up Draymond Green’s importance to Golden State’s success. defensivelyhe’s the one who leads everyone, he’s the one who finds himself at the heart of GS’s defensive system thanks to his versatility and basketball IQ. Offensivelyit is he who helps to facilitate things for Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Co. through his science of the game and his qualities as a playmaker. emotionallyhe is the one who boosts the Warriors (and who, on rare occasions, weighs them down) through his intensity, his big mouth and his leadership.

All that, the defending champion will have to do without tonight against the Kings.

Can the Warriors get their heads above water in front of their home crowd without Draymond? Not sure. Will the Kings take full advantage of his absence to push Golden State? Possible. It will be necessary to wait 4 a.m. to get an early response to these questions.

One thing seems certain, however: Draymond Green will be missed in one way or another, in the most important game of the season for the Warriors.