After the Golden State Warriors lost by 19 points to the New Orleans Pelicans in Game 3 on Friday night, Draymond Green had a little bit of trouble getting to sleep. In fact, he reportedly stayed up until 4AM, replaying his team's lackluster performance in his mind.
During his sleepless night, Green sent a "long-ass text message" message to Kevin Durant, challenging the All-Star forward to be more aggressive in Game 4. It's worth noting, KD had 22 points on 8-of-18 shooting in the Game 3 loss, but Green wanted to see more out of the reigning Finals MVP.
"I can't sleep when we lose like that," Green said, according to ESPN.
"I just challenged him to be who he is. I had to tell him," Green told ESPN. "I didn't see him attacking or being aggressive enough on both ends of the floor like we need him to be. You know, I don't hold back. When I see something's wrong, I have to voice my opinion. There were no hard feelings. We're just trying to win a ballgame."
Durant added, "In short, [Green] said don't worry about s--- else but playing with force and being aggressive. And I tried to do that as much as possible today. I wasn't aggressive in Game 3, and I knew that. It's good to know that teammates got your back. It was good to hear that from him."
KD responded in Game 5 on Sunday afternoon by scoring a game-high 38 points on 15-of-27 shooting, in addition to nine rebounds and five assists, as the Warriors cruised to a 118-92 victory.
"What we saw from him today, that's what we need," Green told ESPN following Durant's offensive explosion in Game 4. "He was engaged and scoring all over the place. He was changing the game. That's the impact he has when he's playing aggressive out there for us. That's what I love seeing."
The series will now shift back to the Bay Area for Game 5, which is scheduled to tipoff tomorrow night at 10:30pm ET.