Steve Kerr Explains Decision To Bench Draymond Green In Fourth Quarter

It hasn’t been the best NBA Finals performance for Draymond Green, and perhaps he’s losing some faith from head coach Steve Kerr.

With the Warriors locked in a tight battle down the stretch last night, Kerr opted to leave Green on the bench for a large bulk of the fourth quarter.

11-3 Warriors since Kerr benched Draymond Green

— John Dickinson (@JDJohnDickinson) June 11, 2022

After the game, Steve Kerr commented on the decision to sit out Draymond Green.

“I don’t ever want our players to be happy if I take them out,” Kerr said after the Warriors’ series-tying 107-97 victory to The Athletic. “Draymond is incredibly competitive. … I didn’t see any reaction. He’s the ultimate competitor. He came back in and made huge plays down the stretch, finishes the game with four steals, eight assists, nine boards.

“Look, this is a tough series for him to score because of Boston’s size and athleticism. But he’s still impacting the game at a huge level. And he knows we’re just going to do whatever it takes to win. We have a lot of guys who can contribute, and a lot of guys did that tonight.”

Coaches' decisions can either galvanize a team or splinter it into a dozen pieces.

But there has to be mutual trust.

Steve Kerr and Draymond Green displayed theirs when the Warriors' leader was benched late in Game 4.

✍️ @davidaldridgedc
📚 https://t.co/BmXJ3WwB1V pic.twitter.com/2wvYVxjD4R

— The Athletic NBA (@TheAthleticNBA) June 11, 2022

Draymond Green also said he didn’t take it hard when benched by Steve Kerr.

Draymond on getting benched in the 4th quarter pic.twitter.com/fkoWNan3ai

— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) June 11, 2022

Luckily for the Warriors, Draymond Green and Steve Kerr are on the same page. And they’ll likely need more out of the big man in order to close out the series.

It’ll be interesting to see how Draymond plays in the coming games.

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