SAN FRANCISCO -- Watching the Warriors' 17-point Game 3 win against the Sacramento Kings from his home, a suspended Draymond Green put his pride to the side. What already was on Steve Kerr's mind was on Green's as well.
He suggested Kerr should bring him off the bench for Game 4 and continue starting Jordan Poole. Green's unselfish act made plenty of sense. The Warriors' spacing thrived from the start in Game 3, and the same goes for Game 4.
Poole's plus/minus was a plus-13 in Game 3 and he scored 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting in Game 4. Now, it's time for Green to get selfish again.
With little time in between the Warriors' historically bad 118-99 Game 6 loss to the Sacramento Kings on Friday night at Chase Center and Game 7 on Sunday at Golden 1 Center, Kerr very well has to make a change. Whether that means he and Green have a conversation first or not. Either way, the four-time champion needs to be back in the starting lineup with the Warriors' season on the line.
"Jordan is only 23 years old," Klay Thompson said Friday night after the Warriors' 19-point loss. "We lose as a team; we win as a team. It wasn't on just JP tonight. He could come out and get 30 effortlessly on Sunday.
"So he's got to keep his confidence up. I mean, he's a great player, and he helped us win a championship last year, and if we want to do that again, he will do the same this year."
True, true, true and more truths all across the board.
Golden State Warriors
Yes, Poole still is a young player with plenty of years left in his basketball career. The Warriors did not lose solely because of him. Far from it. They lacked energy and focus, were crushed on the glass, made far too many sloppy mistakes and simply weren't the better team.
But look no further than the Warriors' 8-0 deficit in the first two minutes and 40 seconds of Game 6 as a clear indication to why Green needs to be back on the floor from the get-go.
By that point, the Kings already had three more rebounds than the Warriors. The Kings had taken six shots and the Warriors had attempted three. The Warriors last two offensive possessions before Kerr called timeout ended with two turnovers that led to two 3-points from the Kings.
Despite Green being called for two fouls within a 15-second span about a minute into him entering the game, his impact was clear. He was a plus-5 with three assists, two rebounds and one block as the Warriors held a two-point lead going into the second quarter. Poole was a minus-3 after missing both of his first-quarter shot attempts and didn't have any other numbers along the box score aside from one foul.
Fast forward to Sunday in Sacramento. Imagine cowbells ringing throughout Golden 1 Center. Fans won't sit until the final buzzer sounds. Get ready for one hell of an environment.
From high to college and the NBA, Poole already has found himself in a handful of high-pressure atmospheres. He has stepped to the challenge many times, too. And he certainly can again in the Warriors' winner-take-all battle against their Northern California brothers.
Draymond, though, he'll be drooling at the chance to bring boos to a simmering silence. Of course he wanted to close the series out at home Friday night. Maybe more than anybody else, he'll invite everything a Game 7 on the road brings.
"A couple times I noticed them, but for the majority of the game I didn't even hear them," Green said of Kings fans in Sacramento following the Warriors' Game 5 win. "I was just dialed in at the task at hand."
The 33-year-old, four-time champion has played four Game 7s in the past. The Warriors are 2-2 in said games. In those four contests, Green has averaged 19.3 points, 11.0 rebounds and 5.3 assists. You'd have to go all the way back to Game 7 of the 2018 Western Conference Finals to find when Green last found himself in this position.
Beating the Houston Rockets by nine points, he played 44 minutes and finished with 10 points, 13 rebounds and five assists on his way to being a plus-11.
Poole played 26 minutes Friday night, the fewest of the Warriors' starters. He was a minus-14, scoring only seven points, his lowest total as a starter this season, on 2-of-11 shooting. Though he only turned the ball over once, Poole also only had one assist and didn't grab any rebounds.
For the series, Poole now is averaging 12.7 points on 33.8 percent shooting from the field and 24.1 percent from 3-point range as a score-first guard.
Green also played 26 minutes and was a minus-13 off the bench. He had four points, 10 assists, four rebounds, two blocks and took just two shots.
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Putting him and Kevon Looney on the floor gives the Warriors two non-shooters on the floor together. It also gives the Warriors two winners and two defensive anchors who know what's at stake. The five-man group of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Green and Looney was the best lineup in the NBA this season.
Throughout the course of the Warriors' first-round series with the Kings, they have played 36 minutes and 55 seconds together. The results have been an 18-point Warriors advantage. They've outscored the Kings 111-93 together.
Sunday brings 48 minutes of a dynasty hanging by a thread, pushing forward or facing a summer of question marks. The Warriors can't wait. Not six minutes into the game. Not to start the second half.
Right when the first second ticks off the clock, with their heartbeat leading the pack and doing what Draymond has done for so long: Win.