For the first time since Klay Day, the foundational players of the Warriors’ three championships, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, played together in a 126-112 win over the Wizards.
30 and 11 and 23 back together again. (📸: @_JordanJimenez) pic.twitter.com/GX0hgMk5bU
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) March 15, 2022
The return of Green is pivotal for the remaining 13 games that the Warriors have left on their schedule. This is the first game Green has played since suffering a back and calf injury in January. Since he went down, the Warriors went 16-13, falling to third place in the Western Conference.
“To play with those guys again, it’s extremely special,” said Green per NBC Sports. “When it’s not all three of us out there, there’s still a void there. It’s still empty. At least that’s what I know I felt for the last two and a half years.”
Green posted six points, seven rebounds, six assists, and was a game-high plus-24 in 20 minutes. The return of Dray as the Dubs’ playmaking hub was also pivotal in unlocking a scoring explosion from Curry, who scored a game-high 47 points on 16-25 shooting, including 7-14 from deep, the most he’s scored since dropping 50 in November. Thompson scored 20 himself, on 4-12 shooting from three-point range.
Draymond runs the floor and feeds Klay 👀 pic.twitter.com/Usgpa9sW6G
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) March 15, 2022
With the return of Green as their two-way “control center,” the Warriors will look to work their way up to stealing the second seed in the Western Conference playoffs from the Memphis Grizzlies, who had an identical record to the Warriors. The task is daunting to Green, whose confidence that the Warriors will win a fourth championship since 2015 hasn’t waned.
“Whether we’re the No. 2 seed or No. 3 seed, we’re going to win a championship,” Green said. “Don’t really matter. I called it months ago.”
The Warriors look to win their fifth straight game when they host the Celtics on Wednesday.
