Golden State Warriors: Draymond Green still as important as ever

The fourth quarter of their season-opening loss once again demonstrated the importance of Draymond Green to the Golden State Warriors.

Playing at home and leading 101-88 entering the fourth quarter, the Golden State Warriors were poised to celebrate their season opener with a convincing first-up win.

However, this wasn’t the case, as the Houston Rockets reeled off a 34-20 final quarter to win a thriller, 122-121. And while a number of factors can be attributed to the Warriors’ late-game fadeout, the absence of forward Draymond Green would be at the top of the list.

Towards the end of the third quarter, Green knocked knees with Rockets’ forward Trevor Ariza on a drive to the rim. He was soon ruled out by the warriors for the rest of the game with was determined to be a left knee strain.

As a follow-up to the injury, the Warriors PR department released the following statement:

So with Green out of the lineup for the final quarter, the Warriors proceeded to struggle at both ends of the floor. Over the final 12 minutes, the Warriors had an offensive rating (points per 100 possessions) of 95.8, and a defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) of 137.3.

Granted, the Warriors were also without the services of versatile forward Andre Iguodala with a back injury. But the absence of Green was just a further reminder of just how high the forward ranks in the Warriors’ on-court hierarchy.

One of the most notable aspects of Green’s absence was the Warriors’ PACE (possessions per 48 minutes). When Green was on the floor, the Warriors had a PACE of 112.94. However, during the 20 minutes he was off the court throughout the game, this number shrunk to 92.56.

This became even more prevalent in the fourth quarter, when the Warriors had a PACE of just 91.14. With the absence of Green, the Warriors were simply unable to get stops going down the stretch. And as a result of this, they were unable to frequently break out in transition and attack the Rockets’ defense in their customary manner.

Following the game, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr lamented the loss of Green for the final period:

"“We deserved to lose. We didn’t have energy from most of our group. Draymond’s injury changed everything for us. When we’re lacking conditioning like we are right now, you have to have your high energy guys out there. As soon as he went out of the game, things went south for us. We just couldn’t get any traction.”"

While the Rockets managed to score 34 points in the final period, just nine of these points came from long-range. It was instead their ability to get inside and attack the rim where the loss of Green was felt most. In particular, unheralded forward Luc Mbah a Moute, primarily a defensive stopper, managed to hit three baskets at the rim.

Another who snuck under the Warriors radar in the final quarter was center Clint Capela, who scored on three relatively uncontested dunks.

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The Warriors now hit the road for their next game against the New Orleans Pelicans. With Green still in doubt due to his knee injury, they will certainly need to address the concerns raised by Kerr, and in the process notch their first win of the season.