Veteran forward Draymond Green has vented his frustration at the NBA’s Play-In Tournament, with that coming despite the fact it’s the only thing keeping the Golden State Warriors alive with three games left in the regular season.<\/p>\n
Green acknoweldged the Play-In Tournament “ain’t working”, while also calling out tanking teams after the Warriors’ fate was sealed by the L.A. Clippers victory over the Dallas Mavericks at the Intuit Dome on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
Warriors fate as 10th-seed sealed after Tuesday’s results<\/p>\n
The injury-hit Warriors had sunk to the 10th-seed and were likely to remain there on the back of four-straight losses. They did break that losing streak in an unconvincing win over the Sacramento Kings at Chase Center, but the Clippers win over the Mavericks means they can’t move from 10th ahead of the Play-In Tournament next week.<\/p>\n
Green has called on the NBA to start fining tanking teams to a greater degree, noting that “we could have lost our last 15 games and been stuck in 10th.” The 36-year-old has a point, with Golden State 11.5 games ahead of the 11th-ranked New Orleans Pelicans, with all of the bottom five teams prioritizing their chances come the draft lottery.<\/p>\n
Green did quip that it has allowed the Warriors to remain with an opportunity that otherwise wouldn’t have been available, but it still sounds like the former Defensive Player of the Year is no fan of the current system.<\/p>\n
Green said the play-in tournament \u201cworked initially and now, to have a team stuck in 10th, it ain\u2019t working. We could have lost our last 15 games and been stuck in 10th \u2014 it ain\u2019t working.\u201d Later, he noted with a laugh, \u201cWe want to make the playoffs, so it works, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n