Draymond Green revisits Warriors' benefiting vs injured teams, citing 'what ifs' after Steph Curry's absence - "Kyrie Irving got hurt"

During the postgame press conference after the Golden State Warriors were eliminated from the playoffs on Wednesday, Draymond Green gave his take on the "what if" situation had Steph Curry been available.

While Green said that they would have had a shot at the title had Curry been healthy, Green shared that injuries are part of the game. The star forward also highlighted that the Warriors have been on both sides, having benefited from opponents' injuries, as well as having lost key players during previous title runs.

"I wholeheartedly believe if Steph was healthy we could've done that," Draymond Green said. But I once won a championship where Kyrie Irving got hurt in the NBA Finals and Kevin Love got hurt. Do I believe we still would've won if they didn't get hurt. I do believe so, but we'll never know. That's just the nature of the sport that we play.

"On the flip side you can't sit here and be like 'We would have won' had Steph hadn't got hurt. No, we've been on the other side of that. So respect it when it don't go your way. ... Unfortunately this time, luck wasn't our side and Steph Curry got hurt. ... Take the good with the bad. The Minnesota Timberwolves ended our season and beat us regardless of who we had on the floor."

Green concluded:

"Under no circumstance will I be like 'Ah, man, they lucky Steph not...' Nah, they won."

After beating the Houston Rockets in seven games in their first-round playoff series, Steph Curry sustained a hamstring injury in Game 1 of their second-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

While Golden State won Game 1, the Timberwolves swept the Curry-less Warriors to win 4-1 and advance to the Western Conference finals for the second-straight season.

---

Draymond Green gives Timberwolves their flowers

In the postgame interview after their Game 5 elimination, Draymond Green gave props to the Minnesota Timberwolves, sharing that they have a good shot at clinching the title this season.

The four-time NBA champion noted that the Timberwolves have the right pieces and had praise for their role players as they came together to form a cohesive unit.

"They got pieces. It's not just one or two guys. They got a real team, so I think they got a real shot at it," Draymond Green said.

The Golden State Warriors were poised to have a deeper playoff run this season had their star player not suffered the unfortunate injury. However, they won't dwell on the "what if" situation and will look to bounce back stronger for their next campaign.