Kobe Bryant's motivational words inspired Draymond Green in Game 5
Draymond Green talked to Kobe Bryant the day before Game 5 and received some inspiration from the Lakers legend
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1 min read
It seems like Warriors All-Star Draymond Green and the recently-retired Lakers legend Kobe Bryant are becoming fast friends. Bryant has a lot of respect for Green and loves how passionately the Warriors big man plays the game, which is why he reached out to him following Golden State's Game 4 loss to the Oklahoma City in the Western Conference finals.
That wasn't an isolated incident though, the two have kept in communication since and even talked on the phone before Game 5. Bryant's message to Green was similar to his text message and their conversation helped motivate the Warriors All-Star on Thursday.
"Anybody could do it if it was easy,' so that kind of sat well with me, and talking to him yesterday, that's a guy that's been through it all, man," Green said postgame about his phone call with Bryant. "He's been through having the fans love him, and he's been through having the fans completely hate him. And when they hate him, he used that as fuel.
"So it was good to talk to him." Green continued. "It was always great. Anybody can tell you something, but when you've got a guy like that who has really been through everything, it kind of hits home a little bit more, so it was great."
With Bryant's message in the back of his mind, Green bounced back from two back-to-back dreadful performances, finishing with 11 points, 14 rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots. A more typical type of game from Green, who is among the league's best players but due to a technicality just missed out on the All-NBA first team.
And similar to Green, the rest of the Warriors bounced back from losing two games for the first time all season, to now trail the Thunder 3-2 in the series. But Game 6 is on Saturday and the Warriors will need to have their Game 5 performance travel to Oklahoma City if they want to avoid elimination.
