Optimum Sports : Warrior Green Claims 82 Games Too Much

Draymond Green

After the Warriors’ quest for a record-setting 73 wins was dealt an unexpected setback against the Timberwolves on Tuesday night, Draymond Green admitted his team had become “bored” by the slog of the NBA regular-season – and were ready for the season to end.

“Talking 82 games, we get bored with that after a while,” Green said.

The Warriors let slip a 17-point lead and lost 124-117 in overtime, meaning the NBA’s best team must sweep their four remaining games to surpass the 1995-96 Bulls’ mark of 72 wins on the season.

Asked whether the Warriors had gotten caught up in the hype of eclipsing Michael Jordan and the Bulls, Green responded: “Honestly? Yes.”

Then he corrected himself. “I wouldn’t necessarily say caught up in the hype.”

Green gave an honest assessment after the Warriors’ second home loss in the past five nights. Their record 54-game home winning streak was snapped Friday by Boston, and Green acknowledged that a long season had taken its toll.

“It’s human nature to where [we’re], all right, kind of ready for the regular season to end,” Green said. “Talking 82 games, we get bored with that after a while. And that’s no excuse, just, I’m always give it to y’all real, and that’s about as real as I can be. It’s kind of at a point now where you’re ready for the regular season to be over.

“Focus was the number one thing,” Green said. “We lost our focus and when you lose your focus, that’s when turnovers happen. That’s when problems happen.”

Coach Steve Kerr watched his team commit 24 turnovers and witnessed an off-night for Steph Curry, who missed 18 of 25 shots. Kerr, who was part of that record-setting Bulls team in the 1990s, said he knows what his team are going through.

“You have so much media attention and everybody talking about breaking the record and you lose focus a little bit,” Kerr said. “The same thing happened 20 years ago. We didn’t play well down the stretch. This doesn’t surprise me. It’s easy to get lost in all this stuff. We haven’t been very dialed in of late.”

Curry insisted, however, that the record of 73 was not beyond them. “We put ourselves in a position where it’s a realistic goal,” he said. “We have to embrace the challenge. Obviously it’s not easy to get it done. We’re proving that right now.”