Draymond Green is dragging Stephen Curry down with him

The Warriors never lack for confidence. That much was evident from the opening tip of Game 4 in Oklahoma City. With Golden State trailing the Thunder 2-1 and coming off a proper drubbing in Game 3, Stephen Curry opened the night with this shot.

A 29-footer early in the shot clock with nary a pass or a probe into the defense. Russell Westbrook tried to jump a passing lane that wasn’t, Curry had picked up his dribble but saw daylight, and he fired. No other player in the NBA -- no other player in NBA history -- takes that shot. Curry did. He missed, the world shrugged. He can hit those, so why not?

He’s not hitting those right now. The Curry that rewrote the record books this season -- more than 400 three-pointers, the most efficient shooting numbers ever for a high-volume scorer, the first unanimous MVP in history -- isn’t hitting much of anything. Since Game 2, when Curry had One Of Those Games en route to the Warriors’ only win this series, the Chef has shot 5-for-21 from three. Steve Kerr has asked him to spend lots of time defending Russell Westbrook -- not all the time, but plenty of possessions. Westbrook has 61 points on nearly 50 percent shooting over the last two games.

If you’re wondering how we got here, how the Thunder have the Warriors on the precipice of elimination, one of the major contributing factors is that Russell Westbrook is playing like an MVP and Steph Curry isn’t.

Some have surmised injury is to blame -- Curry missed a few weeks of action earlier this postseason, time the Warriors were able to bide because that roster is so damn good. Steph claimed he’s physically fine after the game. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything; Curry doesn’t make excuses, even valid ones. It’s true that he doesn’t appear as fleet as is typical, especially getting back on defense. But then Westbrook has a penchant for making everyone else look a step slow.

The inextricable concern tied to Curry’s underwhelming trip to OKC is Draymond Green’s flat-out disastrous two games in the Sooner State.

In Game 3, Green shot 1-for-9 with more turnovers than assists and, of course, the nutshot that could have ruined the Warriors’ title defense. In Game 4, after being pardoned by the league, Green shot 1-for-7 with three times as many turnovers as assists.

Over the two games, the Warriors were -73 in 70 minutes with Green on the floor. But the two games showed extraordinarily different Draymonds. In Game 3, he looked like the typical Green: full of vim and vigor, talking, hitting, flexing and driving aggressively to the rim. In Game 4, perhaps chastened by the thin disciplinary ice his flagrant foul on Steven Adams created, Green was a muted, tentative version of himself. He wasn’t loud in any way. He got dominated on both ends. He didn’t look confident.

This isn’t Draymond Green.

When Draymond isn’t Draymond, Steph can’t be Steph. Green is the release valve that punishes defenses for focusing too heavily on Curry. But Kevin Durant is deep inside Green’s head. The Thunder are all inside Green’s head. Green’s inside his own head. He’s losing his dribble, he’s making bad decisions and his shooting woes are messing everything up. With Green crumbling and with the referees allowing the Thunder to manhandle Curry as he tries to break loose, Steph can’t get the daylight he’s become accustomed to finding. And when he does have daylight, as in that very first play in Game 4, he’s not hitting the shots.

The home crowd in Game 5 should help Green regain his swagger, and as we’ve seen time after time after time, Curry can explode into flames at any moment. After Tuesday’s game, when all looked lost for the Warriors after their dream season, Green declared that if any team could come back and win three straight against the Thunder to survive, it was Golden State. He’s right. No team is better suited to stand against the wall and escape in the blink of an eye. That’s how they won 73 games.

But to do it, Green needs to find himself and Curry needs to find his touch again.