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Amid a postseason slump shooting the deep ball for Kevin Durant, Draymond Green found the right trigger to press prior to his team taking the court at the Smoothie King Center for Game 4 of the series.
Having sustained a decisive Game 3 loss earlier in the week, Green took it upon himself to challenge his teammate, sending a text message at 4 a.m. motivating him to be on the attack.
“I just challenged him to be who he is,” Green said, according to ESPN's Chris Haynes. “I had to tell him. I didn’t see him attacking or being aggressive enough on both ends of the floor like we need him to be. You know, I don’t hold back. When I see something’s wrong, I have to voice my opinion. There were no hard feelings. We’re just trying to win a ballgame.”
Green has been playing like the team's MVP and Durant had been shooting under 50 percent from the field for five straight games, dating back to the end of the series against the San Antonio Spurs.
Durant's feeble 25 percent from deep in the first round was a key sign that he was settling for shots, despite having the advantage of being one of the most feared offensive players in the league.
Only for the second time in this postseason, Durant attempted less than six threes in the game, sporting a clean 15-of-27 mark from the floor and posting a postseason-high 38 points, besting his 34-point outing in Game 4 against the Spurs.
“In short, [Green] said don’t worry about s**t else but playing with force and being aggressive,” Durant said. “And I tried to do that as much as possible today. I wasn’t aggressive in Game 3, and I knew that. It’s good to know that teammates got your back. It was good to hear that from him.”
Durant ruthlessly punished a smaller Jrue Holiday from the post and the mid-range, taking advantage of a six-plus-inch advantage and getting easy looks at the basket, resulting in a 26-point win for the defending champs.
