Recently, the Warriors have been subjected to a significant amount of jeers. Unfortunately, the majority of the support has come from their own fans.

The Memphis Grizzlies supporters at FedEx Forum, who apparently had a photographic recall of Green’s “Whoop That Trick” antics during the playoffs a couple of seasons ago, welcomed Draymond Green with a chorus of boos on Monday. The boos were lovely music to their ears, as they were performed by the Memphis Grizzlies.

Even the lift that Green offered in his return from a 12-game suspension (16-game absence) — his performance, his leadership, and his communication — was not enough to carry them over a skeleton Grizzlies crew that was missing prominent players like as Ja Morant, Desmond Bane, Marcus Smart, and a host of others. In the end, Golden State was defeated by a score of 116-107 in a national television showcase that was held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The fact that you are required to determine whether or not this is the Warriors’ worst loss of the season is sufficient to provide you with all of the information you require regarding their precarious situation.

What was meant to be a ray of optimism — evidence that when Green is on the court with the other veterans, this team is different — but turned out to be something that could have been the final straw. Considering that we are unable to defeat this team, it is difficult to conceive of a scenario in which we might even faintly be considered for the championship.

On Monday, Green made his comeback to the basketball court and performed admirably. He finished with seven points, seven rebounds, four assists, a steal, and a plus-one rating when he came off the bench for twenty-four minutes. Only he, Andrew Wiggins, and Lester Quinones (who played five minutes) finished with a positive plus-minus in the box score. He was the only player to do so. 

As a result of the absence of Chris Paul, the Warriors are in need of Green to serve as the secondary playmaker who enables Stephen Curry to work his magic off the ball. The chemistry that had existed between the two longtime teammates was immediately restored.

Green assumed his typical defensive role as the anchor and small-ball center, talking with his teammates to ensure that they were in the appropriate position within the Warriors’ switching defense. His effectiveness on both sides of the ball is demonstrated by the fact that he finished with a plus-one rating despite their loss by nine points.

At the end of the day, however, it was irrelevant.

It was the same concerns that have plagued the Warriors throughout the whole season: an excessive number of turnovers, an excessive number of fouls, an insufficient amount of assistance for Curry, and an insufficient amount of athleticism. 19 turnovers were committed by Golden State, and they allowed a season-high 20 three-pointers and 40 free throw attempts to be made against them. The Grizzlies were young and generally unknown, and they appeared to be unprepared to handle the energy and tempo of the games they played.

The head coach of the Warriors, Steve Kerr, stated after the game that “we need to understand where we are as a team — what our record is, and where we are in the Western Conference.” The implication of this is that we need to be more alert. A shrewd and honest game is what we need to play. We are unable to turn it over. We are unable to reach. This is not a foul. All of those things were done by us.

Green is going to contribute more and more assistance once he has gotten back up to speed. However, the dreadful loss that occurred on Monday demonstrates that despite Green being at the top of his game, this squad is still a long way from being in contention. It is possible that a trade deadline move is the solution, as there are a great number of targets available who have the ability to make a huge difference. In the event that it is not, however, the Warriors will have to confront the fact that they are simply not good enough, and as a result, they will need to consider what this implies for the future of the franchise.

In the aftermath of the game, Green made the following statement: “You just have to have pride in yourself as a man that I’m not going to let my guy score.” There was an excessive amount of softness in our closeouts. Insufficiently slow were our rotations. Therefore, there is no pride at all. We are going to be a complete failure until every single guy gets a sense of pride in himself and wants to stop the guy in front of him.