Draymond: Warriors shouldn't 'exhaust themselves' for No. 1 seed originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
The Warriors are poised to make a deep run throughout the NBA playoffs in pursuit of their fourth championship in eight seasons.
Currently the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference behind the red-hot Suns (49-11), the Warriors (43-17) find themselves six games behind Phoenix with 22 games remaining.
Even with the Suns likely losing superstar Chris Paul for the remainder of the regular season, the Warriors' chances of claiming the No. 1 seed are still slim.
Draymond Green spoke to reporters after the Warriors' shootaround on Saturday and said that the team should not exhaust themselves in pursuit of the top seed, especially if they aren't healthy.
"The goal is to go win one on the road anyway," Green told reporters. "Whether you're trying to close out in four, closeout in five or closeout in six or seven. The goal is to always go win one on the road. If we're the two seed, you just gotta go win one on the road anyway. After going through it so many times, you understand -- to exhaust yourself for the one seed -- yeah, you get an extra game at home in the series or a close-out game at home. But I've won Game 7s on the road and lost Game 7s at home, so it don't really matter. If you can get it, great, but I don't feel like and I don't feel like anyone in this organization feels like it's worth it to exhaust yourself trying to chase after it.
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"If you're healthy, then you're always trying to win every game you can win. But if you're not healthy then there's no use for rolling guys out there and risking more injury or if some guy's a little beat up then risking that possibly getting worse. It's not worth it."
Draymond has been sidelined since January 9 with a back/disc injury and is still weeks away from rejoining the team. Along with center James Wiseman, Golden State is without two of its key players.
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"If you're 100 percent healthy -- which no one is -- and you have a chance, then go after it," Green added. "But like I said I don't see or feel any reason to exhaust ourselves trying to chase after it."
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Both Green and Wiseman are expected to return before the end of the season, which should give the Warriors plenty of firepower heading into the playoffs. Even as the No. 2 seed, a healthy Golden State team will certainly be amongst the favorites to win it all.
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