Draymond Green, Klay Thompson vow to be better in Game 3: ‘Guarantee it'

Share

OAKLAND -- Draymond Green and Klay Thompson may have slight disagreement on the subject of Stephen Curry’s offense, but they are in lockstep on the subject of Game 3 on Sunday.

Anticipating an improved performance, each Warriors All-Star vowed that the basketball sins committed in Game 2 in Houston will not be repeated in Game 3.

“I’ll be better (Saturday) -- guarantee it,” Thompson said Saturday after practice.

“You’re allowed one of those a series,” Green said a few minutes earlier. “We’ve had our one. Now it’s time to lock in for the remainder of the series.”

If those comments are a window into the mentality of the Warriors as they approach Games 3 and 4 at home, they’ll put themselves in position to recover.

The Warriors have had three full days to absorb and analyze and make corrections after a 127-105 loss to the Rockets on Wednesday. They fell behind by a substantial margin in the second quarter and were never in the game after halftime.

Thompson was specifically referring to his inactivity off the ball on offense. Normally in constant motion, he acknowledged he did too much standing and watching, allowing himself to be guarded fairly easily.

But both Green and Thompson realized that most of the team’s errors showed up in two areas: ball security and defense. Defense, in particular, is easily addressed.

“We over-helped quite a bit,” Green said. “But that’s what happens when we don’t contain dribble penetration.”

Those issues greatly contributed to playoff career-high scoring games from Eric Gordon (27 points) and PJ Tucker (22). The Warriors believe those problems have been rectified under the watchful eyes of the coaching staff.

The players are eager to find out.

“We’re just prideful,” Thompson said. “And we’re not satisfied with our last performance. So we want to redeem ourselves, in our fans’ eyes, in our eyes and in our coaching staff’s eyes.”

Game Result/Schedule
Game 1 Warriors 119, Rockets 106
Game 2 Rockets 127, Warriors 105
Game 3 Oakland -- Sunday, May 20th at 5 p.m.
Game 4 Oakland -- Tuesday, May 22nd at 6 p.m.
Game 5 Houston -- Thursday, May 24th at 6 p.m.
Game 6 Oakland -- Saturday, May 26th at 6 p.m. (if necessary)
Game 7 Houston -- Monday, May 28th at 6 p.m. (if necessary)
Contact Us