Inside Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green's Players-Only Meeting Before Game 7
The Golden State Warriors came together just in time.
It seemed like a renewed Golden State team that had played like one of the best in the league since trading for Jimmy Butler in February was going to cruise past the Houston Rockets in the first round when it seized a 3-1 lead, but two straight losses forced it into a win-or-go-home situation on the road for Sunday's Game 7.
The Warriors' leaders responded with a players-only meeting and then handled their business on the way to a 103-89 victory.
ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk reported Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Butler called the "emotional players-only meeting" on Saturday shortly after the team landed in Houston. Head coach Steve Kerr didn't join until the meeting was well underway and Green had already addressed his mistakes from the Game 6 loss.
"Draymond set the tone last night at the team meeting," Kerr said. "Basically, he owned up to losing his poise in Game 6, and I agreed with him. I thought the flagrant foul was a tone-setter, and he knew it and so he talked to the group and said, 'I got to be poised and I have to be better, and we're going to come in here tomorrow and get it done.' And I think his emotional stability tonight, just his poise from the start, set a great tone."
Anthony Slater of The Athletic relayed quotes from Green as well.
"I had a lot to say," Green said. "Most importantly was calling myself out … You can't be a leader and not be accountable. You call other guys out when their s--t stinks. You better say when yours does, too.
"I felt like I was going too far. I listened to 'Check Out Time' on the way to the game the other day. That's the exact mindset I had.
"I pouted way too much last game. I spent the last two days embarrassed at what I gave to the game, what I gave to the world."
It wasn't just Green, as Youngmisuk reported Curry made it clear he was going to protect the ball in Game 7 while Butler did what he could to inspire confidence.
"My message to my guys was I wasn't being who I was," Butler said. "In a sense of pumping confidence into my guys. I think that's a part of my leadership that I've learned and gained throughout my years of playing this game at a high level.
"I wasn't doing that for the first six games, so I wanted to make sure to let them know that I was going to show everything was going to be fine, we're right where we wanted to be and I think I got back to being who I'm supposed to be."
The meeting worked, as the Warriors advanced with a dominant defensive effort and balanced offensive attack.
Curry took over in the fourth quarter and finished with 22 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and, perhaps most importantly given his goal coming out of the meeting, just two turnovers.
Butler (20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists) and Green (16 points, six rebounds, five assists and two blocks) also stuffed the stat sheet.
But it was Buddy Hield who provided arguably the most important lift with 33 points behind a red-hot 9-of-11 shooting from three-point range. With Rockets defenders constantly hounding Curry and making sure he didn't get open, Hield was able to take full advantage of the spacing and make the home team pay.
Things don't get much easier from here with a second-round showdown against Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves, but this Warriors core is battle-tested and playing at a high level.
Sunday also proved it can come together to overcome adversity with the season on the line.
