The 2022 NBA Finals between the Warriors and Boston Celtics was a hard-fought battle.
But even against such a talented team, Golden State felt extremely confident about its chances after evening the series at two games apiece with a victory in Game 4.
Draymond Green detailed just how sure his team was about winning their fourth championship in eight seasons during the latest episode of his podcast, where he pinpointed the exact moment the Warriors knew they would pull it off.
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“I think after Game 4, we knew we had them,” he said on “The Draymond Green Show.” “After Game 4, I'm like 'All right, I'm wearing all black. It's going to be a funeral.' Game 5, it's time to go ahead and really kill these, like, kill these boys. Game 6, we put the dagger in these boys.”
Down two-games-to-one in the best-of-seven series, Game 4 was critical for the Warriors’ chances. Steph Curry’s masterful, 43-point performance in that contest helped tie the series, and then Golden State took care of business over the next two games.
Green wore the same all-black sweatsuit ahead of the last two Finals games -- for the “funeral,” as he called it -- and the rest is history. The Warriors’ intuition was right as they went on to take Games 5 and 6, hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy again for the first time since 2018.
Golden State is battle-tested and understands what it takes to win the Finals more than any other NBA team in the last decade. When the Warriors took Game 4, they knew it spelled trouble for the Celtics despite oddsmakers saying otherwise.
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And for Green, that mentality (and corresponding outfit) is just another detail from this NBA title that makes it one of the most special yet.
“But that was my mindset,” Green said of his all-black ensemble. “And so that's how I went into Game 5 and Game 6, with the absolute same outfit on. It was incredible. It's part of my journey. And for me, like I said, that was my mindset and I absolutely enjoyed that.”
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When you’ve been to the Finals as many times as this Golden State core has, you start to get a feel for momentum-shifting moments.
As they prepare for the upcoming season, Green and the rest of the Warriors are hoping momentum remains in their corner.