Draymond Green has some harsh words for his team after loss to the Magic

Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green opens up about how the Warriors played their worst basketball in their loss to a terrible Orlando Magic team. 

The Golden State Warriors and Orlando Magic live in alternate realities at the opposite ends of their respective conferences.

The Warriors are No. 3 in the Western Conference with a 47-25 record, which might be close enough to overtake the Memphis Grizzlies at No. 2.

Before their March 22 game against the Warriors, Orlando was tied with the Detroit Pistons with a dismal 19-53 record. Now, the Magic sits at the No. 14 spot in the Eastern Conference with a 20-53 record. That’s right: the Magic defeated the Warriors in a 94-90 game.

“We’re playing soft. We’re playing stupid,” Green said, visibly frustrated as he slammed his arm on the table. “We’re just not playing good basketball and we’re getting punked. It’s hard to win a game getting punked.”

Draymond Green vents after embarrassing loss to Orlando Magic

“We’re losing a lot of fourth quarters,” Green continued during the postgame press conference. “We’re not really losing the whole game; we’re losing a lot of fourth quarters. And that’s execution, but in order to execute, it requires a certain number of physicality, and we’re not meeting that. No disrespect to the Orlando Magic, but that’s one of the worst teams in the league, and we can’t match that with them. If you can’t match that with them, you’re definitely not doing it against a great team.

Green did say that he wasn’t expressing a concern and was instead identifying the issue, and he doesn’t doubt that the Warriors can fix it.

Although embarrassing, a loss like this can be a wake-up call for a team like Golden State, which has cruised along on high praise all year after being dismissed in the preseason. The Warriors are finally working with their Big Three after three years, but the Magic loss proves that the team still needs to execute and remain physical in order to keep up.

Even though there seems to be a wide gap between the Warriors and the Magic, losses like this are a timely reminder of how narrow the gap can be in professional basketball: every game can be anyone’s game.