It can’t be denied that the Golden State Warriors absolutely miss Draymond Green. But Green’s absence doesn’t serve as an excuse for how much they’ve been failing to execute the basic concepts.
For example, take these following sequences — seemingly unrelated to the Warriors’ late-game-execution problems against the Los Angeles Lakers — that happened well before the late stages of the game. The first: Stanley Johnson crashing the boards and putting back a missed shot during the first quarter.
Ball watching when the opposing team gets up a shot — instead of finding potential board crashers and boxing them out — has been plaguing the Warriors as of late.