LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 12: Draymond Green #23 of the Golden State Warriors loses control of the ball in the final seconds of the fourth quarter as Kevin Durant #35 of the Warriors reacts during the game against the Los Angeles Clippers on November 12, 2018 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)Getty
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Draymond Green and Kevin Durant won't share Thanksgiving dinner with each other next week, but their Golden State Warriors will finish this season with a third consecutive NBA championship and a fourth in five years.
Overwhelming talent usually conquers occasional turmoil for professional sports teams, and nobody in the league possesses more of the former than the Warriors.
As for the latter, well, these things happen.
They happen way more than you think for dynasties that nevertheless suggest life is just swell behind the scenes along their way to dominance.
So ignore everything you've seen and heard involving this hissy fit between two NBA all-stars. It occurred Monday night in Los Angeles, where a wide-open Durant (see photo) fumed down the stretch of a tie game with the Clippers when he didn't receive a pass from Green who dribbled into a turnover. They argued on the court, and when Green escalated the confrontation in the locker room following a 121-116 loss in overtime, teammates joined Durant's side. After Warriors general manager Bob Myers suspended Green for Tuesday night's home game against the Atlanta Hawks, the only thing lost in the whole deal was a day's pay for Green at $120,480.
Otherwise, GrumblingGate for Golden State is overrated.
Green joined fellow superstar Stephen Curry out of the Warriors' starting lineup against Atlanta, but they still moved to 12-3 after a relatively easy 110-103 victory. They did so with their usual contributions from Klay Thompson, another Golden State superstar (see a theme here?), and Durant. They also had Jonas Jerebko's 14 points and game-high 13 rebounds along with Quinn Cook's 18 points and team-leading six assists.
Jerebko and Cook are backups.
Did I mention the Warriors have talent? They have so much of it that the Toronto Raptors, Portland Trail Blazers, Milwaukee Bucks and several other NBA teams are irrelevant this season. Even so, I know what you're saying. In addition to Green versus Durant and maybe Green versus the rest of the Warriors, David West and Shaun Livingston told ESPN this summer that Golden State has all kinds of issues away from the court.
While West retired from the Warriors after last season, Livingston remains to watch Kerr become the latest coach or manager to maneuver through all the pettiness for another ring.
Nearly 40 years ago, Sparky Anderson first told me the truth about how all of this works.
"If you're in charge of a great team, it's about massaging egos, but it's mostly about knowing who hates who and keeping them away from each other," said Anderson, the Baseball Hall of Fame manager during the 1970s of the Big Red Machine, my obsession as a youth, and to translate: He helped me realize in a flash that there was no Santa Claus and that those Cincinnati Reds teams weren't an overwhelming collection of harmonious souls.
They featured Baseball Hall of Fame players Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and Tony Perez. They had all-time hits leader Pete Rose as well as perennial All-Stars Dave Concepcion, George Foster, Ken Griffey Sr., and Cesar Geronimo. They won more games that decade than anybody. In fact, they are the last National League team to grab back-to-back world championships (1975 and 1976).
I thought they loved each other.
Anderson laughed, saying, "I spent more time trying to keep them from killing each other than anything else."
Think back to the New York Yankees winning all of those titles during the 1920s and 1930s when Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were about as close as the Empire State Building to the Golden Gate Bridge. The A's managed three consecutive World Series championships in the early 1970s when they battled opponents and themselves. In the NBA, Bob Cousy was among the leaders of that Boston Celtics dynasty of the 1950s and 1960s, and he just revealed that he and legendary teammate Bill Russell had a "love-hate relationship" through the years. You probably know Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal weren't bosom buddies, but they combined for a couple of NBA titles.
If you want a recent example, coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady of the New England Patriots have combined for five Super Bowl victories, and they wouldn't mind shoving each other into Boston Harbor, you know, just because.
So the Warriors haven't a problem.