Warriors Lose After Draymond Green’s ‘Smartest Dumb Play in History’


He was thinking two steps ahead and it cost the Warriors the game.

Nice try, though

The Warriors dropped into a tie for eighth place in the Western Conference after losing a tight one to the Spurs on Monday night. The game came down to the final seconds before Draymond Green literally threw it away in a move that had viewers scratching their heads.

With 8.7 seconds on the clock, Green ended up with the ball in his hands near the midcourt logo after a busted inbound play. As Spurs guard Derrick White approached, Green threw up a wild shot attempt that didn’t even get close to going in.

This seemed, at first, like an epic blunder, like Green had no idea how much time was on the clock. But he explained after the game that he was anticipating that the Spurs would foul him.

“I assumed [White] was about to foul,” Green said. “Pop is known for fouling in those situations. [White] had his hands out, and I also knew we didn’t have any more timeouts left.

“I felt like that was the smartest dumb play in history. I thought most people would see that and put two and two together on what’s actually going on there. Very smart play that ended up being dumb as hell.”

Green’s play might not have been as smart as he thought, either. He was under the impression that Gregg Popovich’s Spurs are known for fouling while up by three late in the game. But Warriors coach Steve Kerr said that’s not the case.

“It’s probably my fault for not informing the team that the Spurs don’t usually foul,” Kerr told reporters. “We knew we had 8.7 seconds to drive and kick—plenty of options with that kind of time—and so we were just trying to spread the floor and get a good look.”

That’s a mistake Draymond won’t make again. 

The best of SI

How Todd Bowles’s defense dominated the Super Bowl. ... Should MLB try to find ways to make the offseason move faster? ... The Kings are in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race, thanks in large part to De’Aaron Fox’s progression.

Around the sports world

Tom Brady reportedly texted Tyrann Mathieu to apologize for their confrontation. ... This column from Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel on the Britt Reid car crash is smart, tough and fair. ... ESPN’s Howard Bryant had a good little Twitter thread about getting to know Pedro Gomez before they were coworkers. ... A group of 40 people near Edmonton is raising money for cancer research by attempting to play the longest hockey game ever (252 hours) despite wind chills of 50 below zero. ... Referee Mike Dean, who has shown 7% of all red cards in Premier League history, is getting bombarded with death threats after another of his decisions was overturned on appeal. ... According to mathematicians, the probability of a player winning seven Super Bowls is 1 in 51.8 million

Paige Bueckers is unreal

I believe they call this “saucy”

Even Super Bowl TV ratings are falling

Why were there so many people watching in Boston?

Kevin Garnett isn’t one of those “back in my day” guys

Absurd goal from the Indian Super League

He can still get up there!

Ridiculous wind during this rugby game in Tbilisi

College basketball’s blue bloods are not having great years

Not sports

A man in Turkey has maintained a remarkably close friendship with a swan he rescued 37 years ago. ... A Louisana woman ended up in the hospital after spraying Gorilla Glue in her hair. ... This prototype laptop has seven screens but the battery only lasts an hour. ... A weatherman in Australia pulled a body out of the ocean just after appearing live on TV.

11 months in, you figure we’d have a better handle on the masks

Lucky is an understatement

A good song

Email dan.gartland@si.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.