Draymond Green Reflects on Steph Curry Injury After Warriors Loss, Credits Wolves

After the Golden State Warriors were eliminated from the playoffs by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Semifinals, star forward Draymond Green refused to blame it on the absence of star point guard Stephen Curry, who has been sidelined with a hamstring injury.

"It sucks to end it without Steph, but they beat us. Injuries are a part of it; we've won championships when guys got hurt, that's a part of it," Green said at the beginning of his post-game press conference after Wednesday's Game 5 loss. "You want to be as good of a team as you can be, but I always say you need a little luck, just because health is a huge part of it."

Curry suffered a hamstring strain in Golden State's Game 1 win over Minnesota, and he wasn't seen again for the remainder of the series. The Timberwolves rattled off four straight wins, including two wins at the Warriors' Chase Center home, to advance to the Western Conference Finals for the second straight year.

In Wednesday's Game 5, the Warriors cut a 25-point second-half deficit to single digits before the Timberwolves eventually pulled away for a 121-110 win. Green finished with 10 points, six rebounds and six assists in the loss.

Despite the disappointing ending, Green made it clear that all the credit belongs to Minnesota for its series win.

"We definitely missed Steph, that obviously goes without saying, but I'm not gonna come up here and harp on Steph not being there and make it like their win is less of what it is," Green said. "They're moving on, so congratulations to those guys, they beat us, regardless. You're on the other side, you play who's on the floor, and that's what they did and they won, so you gotta give them a lot of credit."