Draymond Green said it several times himself after the Warriors' blowout loss to the Lakers on Tuesday night.
"I gotta be better," Green, who is shooting 22.4 percent from 3-point range this season, told the media.
And, for "First Things First" host Nick Wright, he believes the Warriors should be extremely worried about Green's offensive struggles this season.
"The Draymond stuff should be five-alarm concerning for the Warriors because, when they were 73-9 without Kevin Durant, that year, he was 14, 10 and seven on 39 percent from 3," Wright said Wednesday morning on FS1. "39 percent. It was one of the reasons they were unguardable. Their worst shooter was still shooting nearly 40 percent from 3.
"The last two years, with KD, that 14, 10 and seven dropped to 11, 8 and seven on 31 percent from 3. And this year, it's seven, eight and seven on 22 percent from 3. And they are guarding him like he's [Clippers center] Boban Marjanovic out there. They're giving him 15 feet of room and saying, 'Do whatever you want offensively. We don't care because you don't scare us.' And he is right it. It is clogging their offense.
"The Lakers' entire defensive game plan yesterday was revolving around, 'We don't have to guard one of your guys.' "
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Over the weekend, it appeared Green had found his shot. He made four of his nine 3-point attempts in wins over the Mavericks and the Clippers. But, on Christmas, the Lakers dared Green to shoot, and he missed all three of his 3-point attempts and shot 2 of 7 from the field overall, finishing with just four points.
"We just gotta be better. I gotta be better," Green said after the loss. "I kind of f***** our whole offense up, and it kinda messed up the flow of the game, so I just gotta be better."
The Lakers refused to guard Green any time he caught the ball behind the arc, and that appeared to get in his head late in the game.
Draymond passes up this wide open 3-pointer because he was 0-for-3 on 3s (including an airball) pic.twitter.com/janEXNblks— Drew Shiller (@DrewShiller) December 26, 2018
"They were playing that gimmick defense," Green told the media. "I was really hesitant to shoot and hesitant to make plays, wasn't aggressive enough, and it allowed the gimmicks to work, and it kind of threw everyone else out of a rhythm and we never found a rhythm after that, so I'll take this one, but I just gotta be better. The gimmick defense, I should be able to pick that apart. I didn't tonight."
Since becoming a full-time starter during the 2014-15 season, Green has never averaged less than 10.2 points per game. This season, Green is averaging 7.1. For the Warriors to get back to their dominant ways, they will need Green to find his confidence on offense and start knocking down those wide open 3-pointers. Once he makes defense start guarding him again, it should open up the floor for his teammates.
