MEMPHIS — The city’s yearly snowstorm sent Memphis into hibernation, leaving FedEx Forum half-full and quiet enough to hear every coach’s plea, player’s yell and fan’s cry throughout the Warriors’ 116-107 loss to the Grizzlies on Martin Luther King Jr. Monday. But the arena filled with boos for Draymond Green, making his anticipated return from his indefinite suspension and 16-game absence.
Fans booed when he first entered the game mid-way through the first quarter and continued any time he touched the ball. At one point, a fan drew the Golden State bench’s ire from his spot three rows back.
“Let’s send Draymond back to the asylum,” the fan yelled.
Curry turned back, stared and shook his head. After Green hit a 3-pointer and Memphis called timeout, Lester Quinones got up and talked back at the fan, defending Green.
Green’s impact was felt — he was active on defense, pushed the pace on offense to get Steph Curry looks. But his return wasn’t enough to clear the rot. Against a Grizzlies team playing without most of its stars — Ja Morant, Desmond Bane among them — the Warriors’ defense was out of sorts and giving up far too many 3-pointers.
After the game, Green said the team’s defense “sucks” and called out a lack of pride from his teammates individually to get stops and prevent drives to the rim.
“If you don’t take pride in one-on-one defense, communication doesn’t matter,” Green said. “Until every guy takes pride in themselves, and wants to stop the guy in front of him, we’ll suck.”
The Grizzlies pulled away with an 11-2 run in the fourth quarter in which the Grizzlies hit a trio of 3s in one minute. In all, Memphis hit 20 3s, the most Golden State allowed this season, on 54 attempts. On top of that, the Grizzlies took 40 free throws and made 32 of them while the Warriors took 10 free throws, making nine.
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The Warriors struggled to find any offensive rhythm, turning the ball over 19 times. Curry had 26 points going 11-for-20 from the field but 3-for-9 from 3. Jonathan Kuminga had a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds. The Warriors as a team shot 32.3% from 3. Green had seven points with seven rebounds in 23 minutes.
“We got careless,” coach Steve Kerr said. “We have to understand where we are as a team. What our record is.”
Golden State finishes off this four-game road trip against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday.
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