Why Draymond says Dubs 2015 title more gratifying than 2017

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The Warriors' NBA titles in 2017 and 2018 were a lot of fun to watch. That was the pinnacle of basketball excellence, watching Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green steamroll through the NBA.

But most Warriors fans would agree that the 2014-15 NBA title is their favorite. That was a dream season. Decades of misery were erased that year. It was the franchise's first championship in 40 years. Curry won his first MVP. They knocked off LeBron James to win their first ring.

Green agreed with that sentiment when asked by Charles Barkley on TNT's Inside the NBA after the Los Angeles Lakers' Game 1 win over the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference finals.

"The first one is always the best," Green said.

When pressed if the 2015 title was better because Green and the Warriors did it without Durant, the All-Star forward offered this:

"I think that one was more gratifying for sure because it just felt way harder," Green said. "I felt like in 2017, we got smacked ... on Christmas Day to the [Cleveland Cavaliers], not blown out. But Steph and KD were trying to figure out who should take the shot. 'Do I take the shot? Do you take the shot?' And it was really messing our team up. And they came together and KD told Steph, 'I don't need you to make sure I get shots. Go be Steph Curry.' And then we played those guys again on Martin Luther King Day and we blasted them, probably by 50 points.

"At that point, I knew it was just a matter of time. Like, we were just waiting on June 10th or whatever it was that we won in the Finals. But in 2015, we had to grind every single day. It wasn't 'Oh we know we'll be champions, it's just a matter of time.' And so it was way tougher in 2015, so that 100 percent feels better."

Green isn't taking a shot at Durant or the two NBA titles the Warriors won with him. He's simply stating a fact. That 2015 NBA title holds a special place in the hearts of Warriors fans.

Trailing two-games-to-one in the 2015 NBA Finals, coach Steve Kerr made a change to his starting lineup that swung the series. He removed Andrew Bogut and inserted Andre Iguodala, who had been coming off the bench all season.

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The Warriors would go on to win three straight games and closed out the Cavs at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.

It was a moment of euphoria for Warriors fans all over the world. The 2017 and 2018 championships were so much fun because the team was so dominant. But nothing will top Green's first NBA title.

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