Steve Kerr, Draymond Green debut 12-minute blueprint for Warriors before play-in

Steve Kerr and Draymond Green are in their 12th season of barking at each other, testing the limits of their patience and generally increasing their relative value to the Warriors.So, when Green on Tuesday publicly shared flat emotions regarding the upcoming NBA play-in tournament, Kerr two nights later called him out.Kerr said he wanted to see the Warriors play with intensity and defend as a team. He wanted better communication, with increased volume and aggression.“Draymond will take care of that,” Kerr said Thursday night.Green responded Friday night in Sacramento. He brought his fangs into Golden 1 Center, not only baring them but also using them in a 124-118 loss to the Kings.Kerr doesn’t mind the result. He had three veteran starters on the bench watching all (Green) or most (Stephen Curry and Kristaps Porziis) of the fourth quarter. There was nothing to gain with a win, so this game prioritized process. Consider it a dress rehearsal for when results matter again next week.Draymond’s role was to bring the fire, and he did, particularly in the third quarter. Quarters one, two and four were forgettable, but Kerr would like to bottle the 12 minutes during which Draymond incited his teammates to bring the kind of scrap they’ll need to compete.“We were not good defensively,” Kerr told reporters in Sacramento. “We had one good stretch in the game, third quarter. I thought we set a tone defensively. Obviously, Draymond got things stirred up a little bit. We needed that, that fire, that edge.“But that was it. The other three quarters were really poor.”The Warriors won the third quarter 38-19. They did with defense, limiting Sacramento to 21.7-percent shooting from the field. Did it by shooting 70 percent from the field, including 57.1 percent from deep. Did it with flowing ball movement, as 12 of their 14 field goals were assisted.After trailing 63-51 at the half, Golden State opened the second half with three-minute 12-2 run built off a defense that limited the Kings to 1-of-9 shooting. In the middle of that rally was Green, already playing with vigor, cranking up the intensity by coaxing Sacramento guard Devin Carter into a Flagrant 1 foul that incited some heated chatter between the teams. Draymond made time to engage in a brief shoving match with Kings center Maxime Raynaud.Gary Payton II, following Green’s cue, was whistled for a Flagrant 1 foul three minutes later, after an aggressive screen on Carter. Two minutes later, Payton received a technical foul for throwing the ball at Carter. One minute after that, Curry earned a technical foul for coming off the bench onto the floor to vociferously celebrate an Al Horford triple. This entire sequence is absolute comedy pic.twitter.com/0haJCafxIH — Warriors on NBCS (&commat;NBCSWarriors) April 11, 2026 In a game with no stakes for either team, the Warriors displayed as much fight as they have at any time since their season started spiraling in January. Call it physical-plus.“I mean, I was just laughing at a lot of it, pretty funny stuff going out there,” Brandin Podziemski said. “Everyone was just kind of having fun with the game.”Podziemski was one of the few Warriors that did a lot right during the game, earning the first 30-point game of his three-year NBA career on 9-of-15 shooting, including 3-of-8 from deep. De’Anthony Melton posted a 17-point second quarter – his career high for any quarter – that the Warriors lost by seven.Horford made his return after missing three weeks and to no surprise looked rusty. As bad as Golden State’s overall performance was, the Curry-Porziis partnership showed encouraging signs. Though neither shot well, they were plus-11 in their 20 minutes together. Steph to Porzingis pic.twitter.com/8uLRh9SioX — Warriors on NBCS (&commat;NBCSWarriors) April 11, 2026 “We’re going into Wednesday’s play-in game without much momentum, without a whole lot of continuity and health and all that,” Kerr said. “We’re trying to put it together quickly. We’re going to have to clean up a lot of mistakes between now and then. We do have some time, but we have to focus.”For 12 minutes, though, the Warriors played with real conviction. Kerr subtly nudged Draymond to bring it. Despite not being excited about the play-in tournament, he did. His teammates followed. They all know they have no chance to beat any team next week without bringing an abundance of pluck.Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast

Steve Kerr, Draymond Green debut 12-minute blueprint for Warriors before play-in

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