Draymond Green ‘not thrilled’ by 4th quarter benching, but will ‘roll with it’

Celtics Draymond Green spent a pivotal stretch of the fourth quarter in Game 4 of the bench. Photo by Elsa/Getty Images

Draymond Green has yet to leave a good mark in the 2022 NBA Finals. Game 4 was no different.

The Warriors’ star forward struggled again on Friday, scoring just two points on 1-of-7 shooting. He did make an impact in other aspects of the game, grabbing nine rebounds, dishing out eight assists, and getting four steals.

But Green helping out a bit in other aspects of the game wasn’t good enough for Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who benched Green for nearly four pivotal minutes of the fourth quarter in Golden State’s 107-97 Game 4 win over Boston.

Green didn’t mince words over his disappointment with what happened, but seemed willing to take one for the team.

“Oh, definitely never thrilled coming out of the game with seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter of a must-win game. I’m not going to sit here and act like I was thrilled. I’m a competitor,” Green said. “But at the end of the day if that’s what coach decides then you roll with it. You know, I had to keep my head in the game and you know, whenever I went back into the game I tried to make some plays. So that was just my mindset, you know, don’t make too much of it.

“I’ve always been on the bandwagon of, you know, if you got something that’s rolling then just stick with it. So, it is what it is.”

Green did re-enter the game with a little more than three minutes left, replacing guard Jordan Poole to help the Warriors preserve their three-point lead. Green helped get the stop and got the defensive board before coming out of the game again when the Warriors called time out right after.

Green went in, out, and in again over the final three minutes, with Kerr putting him in when the Celtics had the ball. Kerr said that taking Green out when he did was part of the plan even though the former Defensive Player of the Year showed frustration on the bench.

“Yeah, we took him out and put [center Kevon Looney] in around maybe the eight-minute mark maybe, 7:40, which was our plan, anyway,” Kerr said. “But Loon was playing so well and Jordan Poole was playing so well, so we just stayed with the group.

“We generally do that. Like most coaches, if you’ve got a group that’s going well, you just stay with it. The last few minutes we just went to kind of an offense-defense pattern with Draymond and Jordan alternating.”

That decision paid off for Kerr. In the near four minutes that Green was on the bench, the Warriors outscored the Celtics 7-3 to swing a four-point deficit to a three-point lead.

Kerr acknowledged the struggles Green’s had this series (he’s committed 18 fouls to score just 17 points through the first four games) while also giving him credit for other things he’s done in the series.

“I don’t ever want our players to be happy if I take them out,” Kerr said. “Draymond is incredibly competitive. I didn’t see … I didn’t see any reaction.

“But he’s the ultimate competitor. Came back in. Made huge plays down the stretch. He finishes a game with four steals, eight assists, nine boards.

“Look, this is a tough series for him to score because of Boston’s size and athleticism, but he’s still impacting the game at a huge level. And he knows we’re just going to do whatever it takes to win. We’ve got a lot of guys who can contribute. A lot of guys did that tonight, and you know, we got it done. And whatever it takes in Game 5, that’s what we’ll do, too.”

Despite all the hoopla about Green’s struggles, the Warriors avoided facing elimination in Game 5 and have home-court advantage back in the NBA Finals.

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