Draymond confirms report he chewed out JP after January win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
With the preseason Draymond Green-Jordan Poole altercation seemingly in the past, the Warriors are two wins away from advancing to the 2023 Western Conference Semifinals.
And one sign that the team truly has moved on from the punch saga came back in January, Green confirmed to The Athletic’s Shams Charania on Sunday.
Charania previously had reported, citing league sources, that Green’s role as a leader following the punch was reasserted after a Jan. 27 home win over the Toronto Raptors, when the four-time NBA champion “verbally chewed out Poole in the postgame locker room.”
Per Charania, Green demanded less pouting and better decision-making from Poole — words that were accepted by the young guard and applauded by Warriors leadership, including Steph Curry.
And, according to Green, the report was true.
“You heard?” Green asked Charania when the moment was brought up after Golden State’s Game 4 victory over the Sacramento Kings at Chase Center.
Green told Charania he did, in fact, remember the intense conversation with Poole. He had taken “three or four steps back” when it came to his voice on the team in the aftermath of punching Poole during an October practice, but by January, he felt time had healed wounds.
“But at that point in the season, it’s time to make a push. It’s time to make a run,” Green told Charania. “And everyone accepts things better after wins than after losses. So it was an understanding that we were putting together some wins.
“That moment happened leading into the All-Star break … I felt like it was important to have that moment. But I also felt it had to be at the right time. We hadn’t put many wins together all year in a row, and so you try to feel out the right time. We were on a home stand, trying to put wins together. I feel that was the time that you try to reinsert yourself.”
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And the fact that Green coming at Poole hard was accepted by all — even the one Green had punched — showed the team was more than ready to defend its NBA title, he said.
“And by the way, you…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/draymond-green-confirms-verbal-jordan-234052734.html?src=rss
Author : NBC Sports BayArea
Publish date : 2023-04-24 23:40:52
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