Broussard: Draymond ‘makes no sense’ with Steph-KD claim originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Draymond Green has certainly ruffled some feathers with his recent comments that: the Warriors needed Kevin Durant to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals all those years ago.
The main reasons, Green said Monday during a live podcast recording in New York, were that: Steph Curry wasn’t strong enough to score whenever he wanted in 2017 and 2018, and other teams had calculated the Warriors.
They needed a player who could get the ball and get a bucket, he added, and Durant stepped in as that man.
Two championship rings earned against LeBron James and the Cavaliers followed, and Green credited Durant.
“But the reality is I don’t think that team will win another championship if Kevin doesn’t come,” Green said Monday night. “…We wouldn’t have beaten the Cavs that came back without Kevin.”
Of course Curry, Green and the Warriors defeated the Cavaliers in 2015 and then did almost the same in 2016. But after that Green was infamously suspended before Game 5 of that second Finals series, Cleveland stormed back from a three-to-one deficit to historically thwart the Golden State replay.
During Fox Sports’ “First Things First” on Wednesday, Chris Broussard slammed Green for seemingly overlooking Curry’s impact on Golden State’s middle rings.
“I’m sure Steph is mature enough to just bounce it off his back. I don’t think he will worry about it,” Broussard told presenter Nick Wright. “But the fact is, Nick, Draymond makes no sense.”
Broussard went down the line and addressed each of Green’s claims.
“First, you said Steph couldn’t get his own shot, to your point. Well okay. He averaged 30, okay, he was the unanimous MVP that season,” he said. “Looked like he was okay, okay?”
The analyst also wondered why Green said Curry was on a doubles team so often at the time when he wasn’t able to get his own shots. Then he disagreed that teams had “invented” the Warriors in 2016, implying that the Golden State veteran was responsible for that loss in the Finals due to his suspension.
“…They were destroying the Cavs, and then Draymond gets suspended and the rest is history,” Broussard said. “So I don’t know if he was just trying to avoid being involved, but that was the reality.”
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The broadcast threw an image on the screen showing that during the Durant era, the Warriors had a higher win rate when Curry played without Durant than when Durant played without Curry.
While Green made it clear that he believes Curry’s growth over the years has transformed the Warriors organization into the powerhouse it is today, Broussard clearly disagreed with some of the other things he said.
Green ended his own comments about Durant . on Monday with a bold prediction that Curry will lead them to win three of the next four finals – a prediction about the future after remembering the past.