Kurtenbach: ‘Soft’, ‘punked’ — it’s clear who needed to hear Draymond
Green’s comments after the Warriors loss to the Magic
Golden State Warriors: Down Steph Curry and after the worst loss of the
season, Draymond Green went in on his team.
>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 16: Golden State Warriors’ Draymond
Green (23) argues with a referee in the second quarter of their NBA game
against the Boston Celtics at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on
Wednesday, March 16, 2022. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 16: Golden State Warriors’ Draymond
Green (23) argues with a referee in the second quarter of their NBA game
against the Boston Celtics at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on
Wednesday, March 16, 2022. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
By DIETER KURTENBACH | dkurtenbach@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News
Group
PUBLISHED: March 23, 2022 at 8:00 a.m. | UPDATED: March 23, 2022 at 2:26
p.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/03/23/kurtenbach-soft-punked-its-clear-who-needed-to-hear-draymond-greens-comments-after-the-warriors-loss-to-the-magic/

Draymond Green will have to write a $25,000 check to the NBA this week
for using untoward language towards an official, but whatever he told
that ref paled in comparison to what he said about his own team Tuesday
night.

Following the Warriors’ worst loss of the season, Green went deep into
his bag of insults. Some of them can’t be repeated here.

“I think we’re playing soft,” Green said after the 94-90 loss. “We’re
playing stupid. We’re just not playing good basketball.

“We’re getting punked. It’s hard to win a game getting punked. That’s
where we are right now.”

And while his comments — which he, of course, expanded upon — were
ostensibly directed at the entire team, I can’t help thinking they were
targeted at one player in particular.

I know that Green wasn’t calling Jordan Poole soft after Tuesday’s game.
That would be ridiculous, even if Poole isn’t providing much resistance
on the defensive end.

And you know he’s not blasting Kevon Looney, who is anything but soft.

Otto Porter and Jonathan Kuminga weren’t soft against Orlando. Porter
had 15 rebounds. Grown-man rebounds. Kuminga was playing a ton of
small-ball center and had the good and bad you’d expect from a 19-year-old.

Maybe Green was being critical of Klay Thompson, who fooled me and so
many more into thinking he was “all the way back.” But calling him soft?
That seems off-base. Thompson has been in the lineup for two-and-a-half
months, but it might take longer yet for him to find his game after a
two-and-a-half-year layoff. He needs a bit more slack and he should get
it — especially without Steph Curry in the lineup.

Do you really think he was going in on Nemanja Bjelica? That seems a bit
much, no?

Hey, maybe Green was talking about himself. Self-evaluation is the most
important kind. And I don’t think it would be out of line to say that
Green didn’t play up to his standards on Tuesday.

But this was not an exclusive comment.

And I can’t help but think it was directed, in part, if not in its
entirety, at No. 22.

>(AP Photo/John Raoux)

Have you ever seen a player shoot his way out of $80 million?

If you watched Andrew Wiggins go 5-for-19 from the floor and shoot only
two free throws Tuesday, then you have.

Frankly, I’m not sure what the Warriors expected from Wiggins on Tuesday
or any other game, but “soft” seems fitting for his performance against
the Magic.

The Warriors don’t ask much of Wiggins. They really don’t. In fact, they
bend over backward to help the forward avoid pressure-filled situations.

But Tuesday, they needed him to look like the All-Star he technically
was this season.

It wasn’t a big ask against one of the worst teams — if not the worst
team — in the NBA.

It proved to be far too much for Wiggins, though.

There were a few moments of overt physical and mental toughness. There
were also three post-ups of Cole Anthony – five inches shorter and
something close to 20 pounds lighter — where Wiggins went 1-for-3.

[GIF]

Yes, Wiggins had eight rebounds in the game. All but two were
uncontested. He didn’t have an assist in the game and was consistently
blown past on the perimeter on defense.

So when Green said “soft” and “punked’ after Tuesday’s game, my mind
went to Wiggins.

This might be a stretch, or worse yet, some anchoring on my end.

It might also be another tactic the Warriors are using to motivate
Wiggins to rediscover that prodigious talent he showed at the beginning
of the season.

>RELATED ARTICLES
Kerr sounds alarm after Warriors’ latest loss without Curry: ‘We
don’t know how to win’
Poole’s second half heroics come up short in Warriors’ loss to Magic
Draymond Green fined $25,000 for swearing at official
Warriors’ Gary Payton II thrilled to return after injury: ‘If you
need me, you got me’
Curry’s absence looms over Warriors as they start five-game road trip

It wouldn’t be the first time that the Warriors have tried to motivate
Wiggins through the media. In fact, it has been a trend as of late.
And when you have to resort to third parties to get a message across,
something has gone awry.

In the meantime, this season is teetering on the brink. The Warriors
won’t have much — if any — time to find a rhythm with Curry before the
playoffs, so they need to establish a solid baseline of play without him.

Two games into this Steph-free stretch, the team is regressing.

Honestly, there are only a few ways to escape this path. Almost all of
them involve Wiggins playing better — playing like the All-Star he was
so happy to be but hasn’t been since Cleveland.

On 3/23/2022 4:55 PM, Allen wrote:
> Kurtenbach: ‘Soft’, ‘punked’ — it’s clear who needed to hear Draymond
> Green’s comments after the Warriors loss to the Magic
> Golden State Warriors: Down Steph Curry and after the worst loss of the
> season, Draymond Green went in on his team.
> >SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA –  MARCH 16: Golden State Warriors’ Draymond
> Green (23) argues with a referee in the second quarter of their NBA game
> against the Boston Celtics at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on
> Wednesday, March 16, 2022. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
> >SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 16: Golden State Warriors’ Draymond
> Green (23) argues with a referee in the second quarter of their NBA game
> against the Boston Celtics at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on
> Wednesday, March 16, 2022. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
> By DIETER KURTENBACH | dkurtenbach@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News
> Group
> PUBLISHED: March 23, 2022 at 8:00 a.m. | UPDATED: March 23, 2022 at 2:26
> p.m.
> https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/03/23/kurtenbach-soft-punked-its-clear-who-needed-to-hear-draymond-greens-comments-after-the-warriors-loss-to-the-magic/
>
>
>
> Draymond Green will have to write a $25,000 check to the NBA this week
> for using untoward language towards an official, but whatever he told
> that ref paled in comparison to what he said about his own team Tuesday
> night.
>
> Following the Warriors’ worst loss of the season, Green went deep into
> his bag of insults. Some of them can’t be repeated here.
>
> “I think we’re playing soft,” Green said after the 94-90 loss. “We’re
> playing stupid. We’re just not playing good basketball.
>
> “We’re getting punked. It’s hard to win a game getting punked. That’s
> where we are right now.”
>
> And while his comments — which he, of course, expanded upon — were
> ostensibly directed at the entire team, I can’t help thinking they were
> targeted at one player in particular.
>
> I know that Green wasn’t calling Jordan Poole soft after Tuesday’s game.
> That would be ridiculous, even if Poole isn’t providing much resistance
> on the defensive end.
>
> And you know he’s not blasting Kevon Looney, who is anything but soft.
>
> Otto Porter and Jonathan Kuminga weren’t soft against Orlando. Porter
> had 15 rebounds. Grown-man rebounds. Kuminga was playing a ton of
> small-ball center and had the good and bad you’d expect from a 19-year-old.
>
> Maybe Green was being critical of Klay Thompson, who fooled me and so
> many more into thinking he was “all the way back.” But calling him soft?
> That seems off-base. Thompson has been in the lineup for two-and-a-half
> months, but it might take longer yet for him to find his game after a
> two-and-a-half-year layoff. He needs a bit more slack and he should get
> it — especially without Steph Curry in the lineup.
>
> Do you really think he was going in on Nemanja Bjelica? That seems a bit
> much, no?
>
> Hey, maybe Green was talking about himself. Self-evaluation is the most
> important kind. And I don’t think it would be out of line to say that
> Green didn’t play up to his standards on Tuesday.
>
> But this was not an exclusive comment.
>
> And I can’t help but think it was directed, in part, if not in its
> entirety, at No. 22.
>
> >(AP Photo/John Raoux)
>
> Have you ever seen a player shoot his way out of $80 million?
>
> If you watched Andrew Wiggins go 5-for-19 from the floor and shoot only
> two free throws Tuesday, then you have.
>
> Frankly, I’m not sure what the Warriors expected from Wiggins on Tuesday
> or any other game, but “soft” seems fitting for his performance against
> the Magic.
>
> The Warriors don’t ask much of Wiggins. They really don’t. In fact, they
> bend over backward to help the forward avoid pressure-filled situations.
>
> But Tuesday, they needed him to look like the All-Star he technically
> was this season.
>
> It wasn’t a big ask against one of the worst teams — if not the worst
> team — in the NBA.
>
> It proved to be far too much for Wiggins, though.
>
> There were a few moments of overt physical and mental toughness. There
> were also three post-ups of Cole Anthony – five inches shorter and
> something close to 20 pounds lighter — where Wiggins went 1-for-3.
>
> [GIF]
>
> Yes, Wiggins had eight rebounds in the game. All but two were
> uncontested. He didn’t have an assist in the game and was consistently
> blown past on the perimeter on defense.
>
> So when Green said “soft” and “punked’ after Tuesday’s game, my mind
> went to Wiggins.
>
> This might be a stretch, or worse yet, some anchoring on my end.
>
> It might also be another tactic the Warriors are using to motivate
> Wiggins to rediscover that prodigious talent he showed at the beginning
> of the season.
>
> >RELATED ARTICLES
>   Kerr sounds alarm after Warriors’ latest loss without Curry: ‘We
> don’t know how to win’
>   Poole’s second half heroics come up short in Warriors’ loss to Magic
>   Draymond Green fined $25,000 for swearing at official
>   Warriors’ Gary Payton II thrilled to return after injury: ‘If you
> need me, you got me’
>   Curry’s absence looms over Warriors as they start five-game road trip
>
> It wouldn’t be the first time that the Warriors have tried to motivate
> Wiggins through the media. In fact, it has been a trend as of late.
> And when you have to resort to third parties to get a message across,
> something has gone awry.
>
> In the meantime, this season is teetering on the brink. The Warriors
> won’t have much — if any — time to find a rhythm with Curry before the
> playoffs, so they need to establish a solid baseline of play without him.
>
> Two games into this Steph-free stretch, the team is regressing.
>
> Honestly, there are only a few ways to escape this path. Almost all of
> them involve Wiggins playing better — playing like the All-Star he was
> so happy to be but hasn’t been since Cleveland.
Apparently Draymond pushed the buttons that Coach Kerr hesitated to
push. Or was Coach Kerr just waiting for someone on the team to step up
and say what needed to be said thinking those words would have more
impact coming from a player than a coach? In any event, Draymond's plea
to play more physically seemed to have made an immediate difference.
Now let's see if the Dubs can continue playing with this newly found
"Draymond-ness" in their game. :-)
--
David Farber
Los Osos, CA