The Golden State Warriors were blown out by the Dallas Mavericks. Stephen Curry put up 27 points and second-year guard Mychal Mulder had 26. They did their part as several key role players failed to step up.
The Dubs struggled to get anything going early which left them helplessly down more than 30 at halftime. At that point, it was theoretically over, and the team might as well have turned their focus to Minnesota.
One such player that failed to get a single bucket was Warriors forward Draymond Green, and for a three-time All-Star, that’s unacceptable.
Draymond Green has decreased his scoring the last few seasons and has become more of a point forward type player, distributing and helping the offense run smoothly. He needs to do both though.
If the Warriors are going to contend for anything this season, which includes just contending for that seventh seed in the play-in tournament, they’re going to need some production in the scoring department from Green.
Once upon a time, Green averaged 14 points per game. Coincidentally, that was the same season in which Stephen Curry was the league’s unanimous MVP. Green’s scoring has been more than cut in half since that season. He’s averaging 6.5 points per game this season.
The real question mark comes in his three-point shooting.
During that 2015-2016 season, Green shot 38.8 percent from deep. Now, he’s at under 25 percent for the first time since his rookie season. The only time Green really gets guarded at the three-point line is when Curry is coming for a handoff.
As for Green’s performance against the Mavericks, he missed one three, his only shot of the game, in over 28 minutes.
He did still fill the stat sheet with 11 rebounds and 3 assists to go along with 3 steals and 2 blocks. It was a solid all-around performance from Green, and although him scoring a few times wouldn’t have changed the outcome, it could in future games.
This was the second time this season that Green has played in over 25 minutes and hasn’t scored. The Warriors lost by 16 to the Atlanta Hawks in the other game, so it’s clearly crucial for Green to at least be aggressive going to the rim.
When Green is aggressive, the Warriors are a better team, and for them to consistently beat good opponents, he needs to consistently be ready to score in double figures.