Green: Dubs revived after ‘awful’ chemistry in ’22

SAN FRANCISCO — As the clock wound down with the Golden State Warriors trailing the Sacramento Kings by a point in the final seconds Wednesday night, Draymond Green found Klay Thompson with a few inches of space. Thompson rose above Davion Mitchell and hit a smooth midrange jumper, just enough to put the Warriors ahead of their Northern California little brother.

As the horn went off after the Warriors’ 102-101 win, Green met Thompson for a bear hug. Stephen Curry was in the left corner double fist-pumping the air. Chris Paul gave an emphatic fist pump himself. The bench erupted.

After a year of struggle, the joy is back in San Francisco.

“Last year we had an awful team as far as chemistry goes,” Green said. “It was hard to come to work. Not fun. So this year you see the joy on guys’ faces when they come into the building. You got guys staying over two to three hours just talking. Getting two to three hours early just to be here. You start to see that, and you’re like, OK, this is a group that likes to be together.”

The joy permeating throughout the Warriors is unmistakable. It’s a similar joy to what they had at the start of their eventual 2022 title run, the kind that was an essential piece to their dynasty.

The early chemistry the Warriors have displayed through the first five games of the season — four of which they’ve won — isn’t by accident.

Over the summer, the team invested a good amount of time in each other. The veterans, spearheaded by Green, Curry and Paul, organized several scrimmages in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco. There were multiple team dinners that lasted for hours.

“You understand the vibe of what happened last year … the time we got to spend together as a group was huge,” Curry said. “We could get the elephants out of the room of [Paul] joining the team, some other vets that we had coming in … it helped to have some familiarity with everybody’s personalities and motivations going into the year.”

Chemistry is a major part of what makes the Warriors — or any team — work. But, even outside of the chemistry is the overall balanced construction of Golden State’s roster.

“We got size, we got depth, we got ball handlers, we got shooters, we got defenders,” Green said. “I can walk in that locker room and look around and know when it comes down to the end, we’re going to have a shot at it. That’s all you can ask for.”

Golden State has been playing with a tight rotation, with Warriors coach Steve Kerr relying on the same 10 players through the first slate of games. Minutes have fluctuated, but unlike in years past, every player knows what is expected of them.

“You can see the adults in the room, the professionals in the room, the steady forces in the room. It’s paying off,” Green said. “Look at our second unit. At times they’ve played better than our first unit … I always tell guys you win championships six through 10, not one through five.”

Curry added: “Even though we’re not playing perfect basketball, there’s a nice cohesion and chemistry and trust in whoever is out there.”

There is no hiding the happiness the Warriors have been playing with. You could see it in Curry’s “Home Alone”-inspired shocked reaction after draining a 3-pointer against the Houston Rockets on Sunday, or the dancing on the bench, or even behind closed doors as players linger in the locker room for hours after the game cracking jokes.

If history has anything to say about it, it suggests that the Warriors are primed to make another push this year.

“Chemistry has been a strong suit here,” Green said. “That’s why so many guys have been here for so long — the chemistry is what we hang our hat on.”

He added: “[Last year] our chemistry sucked. … But it was a one-year thing, it was an anomaly. But we’re right back where we need to be.”