In an appearance on the All the Smoke show with former NBAers Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green said that had Kevin Durant been healthy, the Toronto Raptors “wouldn’t have stood a chance” in the NBA Finals.
He said the first quarter of Game 5 of the Finals, the only one that Durant played in before snapping his Achilles’ tendon, confirmed this to him.
“Once we got Kevin, we were f–king unstoppable. Even losing last year, Kevin don’t get hurt—you seen the game he came back in Game 5, I looked up, it was like six minutes to go, we had like 40 points in the first quarter—and so they wouldn’t have stood a chance if Kevin didn’t get hurt.”
Basketball fans know what transpired from here- 11 points , 2 boards and a helper, in only 12 minutes of action before snapping his Achilles. The Warriors hang on to win by a single point 106-105, before ultimately falling in six games. Klay tears his ACL in that game and then KD leaves for the Brooklyn Nets. Injuries decimated the Warriors and they sat at 15-50 when ,mercifully for them, the season went on hiatus.
Draymond has been rather vocal, and not always complimentary, about his former teammate many of comments drip of not so thinly veiled rancor for Durant , or more specifically his non-committal position on remaining with the club past his current contract. It’s ironic that Draymond has went on a mini-media blitz seemingly direct at KD, when it was his treatment of Durant seemed to one of the primary factors for his departure.
