Warriors Draymond Green: ‘Being a villain is no fun, it’s not enjoyable’

SAN FRANCISCO — As Warriors star Draymond Green entered Game 5 of the NBA playoffs, boos and catcalls rained down on him from the rafters of Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center.

Seared into the Kings fans’ collective mind was the image of Game 2’s stomp on the chest of Sacramento star Domantas Sabonis as he lay on the court. Green was ejected from the contest and served a one-game suspension. 

Now, he was back, and as has often been the case, his passionate playing style had made him a target. A villain in short pants.

“I don’t go chasing after some villain title,” he said after the Warriors’ 123-116 road victory over the Kings. “Being a villain is no fun, it’s not enjoyable. But I also never duck any smoke whether that’s with a player of if that’s from a fan base. It is what it is. You got to take the good with the bad.”

Green said what really helped him put the suspension and the noise surrounding it behind him was the love he got from the Warriors’ home crowd upon his return for Game 4.

“It was great to play in Game 4 and the cheers that I got when I came into the game after missing that game,” he said. “Super special. On the flip side, if you are going to bask in that, and appreciate that, you have to appreciate the other side as well. We pride ourselves on not being front-runners. So I knew for me I couldn’t love and appreciate the cheers that I got at Chase and then come out here and fold because everyone is booing me from the time I came into the game.”

Ironically, the ejection and suspension may have been the turning point for the Warriors who have rattled off three straight wins and now find themselves on the brink of advancing to their seventh NBA Western Division semifinals in nine years.

Instead of starting, Green is coming in off the bench and Golden State’s offense has finally found its rhythm. On Wednesday, Green scored 21 points — his highest-scoring game since Christmas of 2019. 

“That’s one of the luxury of coming off the bench,” he said. “You can kinda feel the game out and see what’s going on. See if there is a need for something, you can insert you into that need. Or if you see something that’s working, you can go and fill that. So having the opportunity to watch from the bench for the first six minutes, picking up the flow of the game has been big.”

Green also said his observations have focused his understanding of where his shots will come from against the Kings defense.

“For the last two, two-and-a-half days, I been in the gym every day working on exactly where I know where those shots are going to come from,” he said.

Green also said knowing how pivotal Game 5 was, he was lasered-focused on one thing — winning.

“I knew the fans would be at me from the time I went in, to be honest with you, I barely heard them,” he said. “I was just dialed to the task at hand.”