Draymond Green’s Desperate Shot Prompts Flurry of Jokes, Memes
Draymond #Draymond
For the best part of 10 years, the Golden State Warriors have made shooting from beyond the arc as common as attempting a layup inside the lane. Even the most reliable weapon can malfunction, however, as the Warriors found out on Monday night when Draymond Green attempted one of the most ill-advised three-pointers of the season.
With Golden State trailing 103-100 against the San Antonio Spurs and 8.7 seconds left, Green received the ball close to half-court. Expecting Spurs guard Derrick White to foul him, Green launched a three-pointer from the logo—but no foul came.
The shot was never in any danger of finding the basket and thudded off the backboard with DeMar DeRozan securing the rebound. The Warriors had no choice but to foul DeRozan to stop the clock, but the Spurs guard converted both free throws to ice the game 105-100 for San Antonio.
To give Green his due, the ball would probably have never got to him in the first place had Stephen Curry not been covered by the Spurs defense.
However, with San Antonio denying any easy pass to Curry, Damion Lee was forced to inbound the ball to Green, who averages 31.6 percent from three-point territory in his career but a meagre 18.9 percent this season.
The Warriors did have enough time on the clock to attempt to get the ball to Curry, however, and Green’s blunder left social media dumbfounded.
After the game, Green candidly admitted that the play did not pan out as the Warriors had hoped.
“I felt like that was the smartest dumb play in history […] A very smart play that ended up being dumb as hell,” he told ESPN.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr took the blame for the play, explaining that Green had attempted the three-pointer as he expected to be fouled.
“Spurs generally do not foul in those situations,” he said.
“It’s probably my fault for not informing the team that the Spurs usually don’t foul. But we knew we had 8.7 to drive and kick, plenty of options with that kind of time. And so we were just trying to spread the floor and get a good look.”
Golden State fell to 12-12 with the loss and currently trail the Denver Nuggets by 0.5 games in the race for the final playoff berth in the Western Conference, while the Spurs improved to 14-10 and extended their winning run to three games.
San Antonio are fifth in the Western Conference standings, five games behind the Utah Jazz at No. 1.
The Warriors and the Spurs meet again on Tuesday night, before Golden State host the Orlando Magic on Thursday. The Spurs travel to Atlanta to face the Hawks a day later.
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