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Top 10 Golden State Warriors Excuses

Written by Jeremy

Up until the 2012-13 season, the Golden State Warriors had only made the playoffs once since 1995.

But Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green have helped transform one of the NBA’s biggest jokes into a perennial championship contender.

Adding former MVP Kevin Durant in the offseason has only furthered predictions that the Warriors are once again the team to beat.

Given that the Warriors are expected to win whenever they take the court, the players, players’ wives, and fans are prone to many excuses when things don’t go their way.

That said, here are 10 of the best excuses we’ve heard from Golden State in recent seasons.

1. Draymond Green’s Game 5 Suspension

With the Warriors coasting to a 108-97 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 4 of the 2016 NBA Finals, LeBron James initiated an altercation with Draymond Green.

The melee ended with Green throwing what looked to be a shot at LeBron’s nuts and drawing a flagrant 1 — enough for an automatic Game 5 suspension.

Despite Golden State being up 3-1 in the series and playing two of the final three games at home, fans blamed Draymond Green’s single-game suspension as a key reason why they lost the Finals.

2. Ayesha Curry: NBA “Rigged for Money”

Not to be overshadowed by our first excuse, Steph Curry’s wife, Ayesha, jumped in to defender her favorite team after they lost Game 6 of the Finals 115-101.

“I’ve lost all respect sorry this is absolutely rigged for money… Or ratings in not sure which. I won’t be silent . Just saw it live sry,” Ayesha tweeted.

She was particularly angry about the fouls that she thought weren’t being called against Cleveland. Curry fouled out, and drew a technical for throwing his mouthpiece and accidentally hitting a fan.

This all led Ayesha to make the following excuse for an excuse:

3. Steph Curry Is Hurt

During the 2016 Playoffs, Steph Curry slipped on a wet spot against the Houston Rockets and hurt his knee. Curry would miss four straight games in the playoffs while the talented Warriors easily finished off their first-round opponent.

He returned for Games 4 and 5 in a semi-finals series against Portland. Curry averaged 37 points and shot 50% from the field while the Warriors dusted off the Trail Blazers in five games.

But then came a grueling series against Oklahoma City, where they fell behind 3-1. The excuses started flying at this point, with one of the biggest being that Curry was still hurting from his injury a few weeks ago.

4. Curry: “I Wasn’t 100 Percent”

Not content to let the fans speak for him, Curry mentioned his injury in a backhanded way during the 2016 offseason.

“I wasn’t 100 percent, but who cares?” he said. “I was playing. I was out there trying to help my team win, and that’s all that really matters. I’ve taken advantage of the summer to get right, and I still have a little bit of work to go.”

Not even coach Steve Kerr had Curry’s back on this one, though.

“He was banged up. But that’s not an excuse,” said Kerr. “It’s not an injury; it’s just that the reality of the season, and it kind of hit him at the wrong time, given that everything started in the playoffs and carried through.”

And if Curry was supposedly way less than 100 percent, explain this 360-dunk before a game against Oklahoma City.

5. The Refs Hate Golden State

Ayesha Curry isn’t the only Golden State fan with tin-foil hat conspiracies involving the refs.

In pretty much every game, you can expect officials to look the other way when Golden State is fouled. Just ask their fans…

6. Klay Thompson: “We Gave Them a Gift” 

Golden State’s excuses aren’t just relegated to playoff basketball. The players also threw out some duseys after a Christmas 2016 loss to the Cavaliers.

My personal favorite is the following one from Klay Thompson, which doesn’t credit Cleveland for a fourth-quarter comeback, but credits the Warriors for giving them a “gift.”

7. Curry Doesn’t Get Enough Shots

Steph Curry averages around 17 shots a game. So after the Christmas loss to the Cavs, he blamed it on him getting just 11 looks.

8. Green Kicking Players in Balls Is Part of Jumping

Remember all of those times that Draymond Green kicked an opponent in the balls while wildly flailing his legs around – including Steven Adams twice!?

Here’s the excuse that he gave Deadspin about it:

“It’s funny how you can tell me how I get hit and how my body is supposed to react,” said Green. “I didn’t know the league office was that smart when it came to body movements. I’m not sure if they took kinesiology for their positions to tell you how your body is going to react when you get hit in a certain position. Or you go up and you have guys who jump to the ceiling.”

If you buy Green’s excuse, see this body expert explain that kicking your leg up at the end of a jump is counterproductive.

9. Andre Iguodala’s Back is Acting Up

A hero for his defense in the 2015 NBA Finals win over Cleveland, Andre Iguodala wasn’t the same player in the 2016 Finals loss.

While this is probably one of their better excuses for losing, Iguodala can’t blame his back for this historic block by LeBron.

10. Golden State Was Tired from Winning 73 Games

It was no doubt an impressive accomplishment to win 73 games – 1 better than the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls. But the Bulls won the title the same year.

That said, does one more victory qualify as an excuse for why you ran out of gas in the NBA Finals?