How Draymond Green’s Text To Kevin Durant Sparked Warriors’ Game 4 Win Vs. Pelicans

A text message rant Draymond Green sent Kevin Durant contained a simple message: bounce back.

Durant duly obliged.

The Golden State Warriors forwards revealed Sunday night following their team’s 118-92 win over the New Orleans Pelicans in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals a text message Green sent Durant sent the previous morning inspired the latter’s shining performance.

Durant scored a game-high 38 points and added nine rebounds and five assists, and those numbers contrast his showing in Game 3, in which he scored just 22 points in a game the Warriors lost by 19. Green stayed awake until the early hours of Saturday morning watching film of the Warriors’ Game 3 setback, which cut Golden State’s series lead to 2-1. He then sent Durant an admittedly lengthy text message.

“I can’t sleep when we lose like that,” Green told ESPN’s Chris Haynes. “I just challenged him to be who he is. I had to tell him. I didn’t see him attacking or being aggressive enough on both ends of the floor like we need him to be. You know, I don’t hold back. When I see something’s wrong, I have to voice my opinion. There were no hard feelings. We’re just trying to win a ballgame.”

Durant replied hours later: “I got you.”

He led the Warriors to victory in Game 4 the next day. Afterward, he explained how he acted on Green’s demand.

“In short, (Green) said don’t worry about s— else but playing with force and being aggressive,” Durant said. “And I tried to do that as much as possible today. I wasn’t aggressive in Game 3, and I knew that. It’s good to know that teammates got your back. It was good to hear that from him.”

Sometimes teammates just have to talk, or text, it out in order to raise each other’s game.