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The Golden State Warriors are back in the NBA Finals after missing the playoffs the last two seasons. It turns out the Los Angeles Lakers played at least a small role in helping the Warriors get back.
Warriors star Draymond Green explained to Marc J. Spears of Andscape that losing to the Lakers in the 2021 play-in tournament was a “dark day.” Green also admitted that once the Dubs lost to the Lakers, their fate was essentially sealed against the Memphis Grizzlies because it took so much out of them:
“I think not making the playoffs last year. Because the bubble season, at that point I had already moved on mentally from that [2019-20] season. I was not tripping about not being in the bubble. I was with my family, it was incredible. But I think last year, really after losing that play-in to the Lakers, that was a dark day. … We’re competitors, so we didn’t come out and quit. They still had to take the game, but we lost to Memphis when we lost to the Lakers.”
https://open.spotify.com/episode/61Ar04k91qqxag5lQwOEe3?si=ed5d91133a624f9b
The Warriors star continued by saying he didn't think they should have lost to the Lakers and that they would have beat the Utah Jazz if they made it to the first round of the playoffs:
“And that for me is like, that was a dark moment for me because I just didn’t think that [Lakers] team should’ve beat us. And they did. And then there was two years not in the playoffs. … Of course, I had some dark days in 2020, but we sucked so bad I just moved on from it. But last year I felt like if we got into the playoffs, we were going to beat Utah.”
Of course, the Warriors did still have a great chance to knock off the Grizzlies, but Green badly missed a game-winning shot at the buzzer and they lost in overtime. Still, it's clear that Lakers loss stuck with Green and helped motivate him and his teammates to come back way stronger in 2021-22.
Sure enough, here they are back in the NBA Finals for the sixth time in eight years.
