The Golden State Warriors are just about as dominant as everyone expected them to be after the addition of Kevin Durant in the offseason, but though they have a new look, they still have some demons to exorcise — namely, the fact that they blew a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals to the Cavaliers after setting the all-time record for wins in a regular season.
Draymond Green, speaking at a Sports Business Innovation conference on life off the court, took the opportunity to remind us that it’s stayed with him.
"3-1 still sucks." -Draymond Green #SBIatCES pic.twitter.com/cHbPltErvl
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) January 5, 2017
Green told fellow panelists Chris Bosh and Dexter Fowler (whose Cubs were on the good side of a 3-1 come back this year), as well as the assembled audience, “By the way, 3-1 still sucks.” Let that destroy any doubt you may have had that the Warriors are using that defeat as motivation this year.
Even if the defeat may have faded to the back of some of our minds, it came back in full force when Kyrie Irving gave us all deja vu and knocked off the Warriors with a late game-winning shot again on Christmas Day. We wouldn’t go so far as to say that the Cavs have a psychological edge over Golden State, but we can say that it doesn’t matter how much talent the Warriors have — Cleveland isn’t going to be scared. Draymond is going to need the mental edge that 3-1 defeat gave him.
