Golden State Warriors' Green rejects 'We Believe' comparisons: "We've got fucking Steph Curry!"

Golden State will not be among the favourites heading into the NBA playoffs, but Draymond Green insists this team is not comparable to the 'We Believe' Warriors of 2006-07.

The Warriors are eighth in the Western Conference, in line to enter the play-in tournament – potentially against defending champions the Los Angeles Lakers.

There are certainly echoes of the 2007 team, who scraped into the postseason with a late-season run to clinch the eighth seed and then dumped out the first-placed Dallas Mavericks, adopting the slogan: 'We Believe'.

Green: "The 'We Believe' days are over"

However, Green says, the similarities end there.

That was the Warriors' first playoff appearance since 1994, while they were without a title in 32 years.

Green's team reached the NBA Finals in five straight seasons, winning three championships, before injury ravaged their 2019-20 campaign.

And where Golden State were led in 2006-07 by two-time All-Star Baron Davis, who averaged 20.1 points per game, Green can turn to Stephen Curry to get the Warriors going.

Curry is a three-time champion, a two-time MVP, a three-time selection to the All-NBA First Team and a seven-time All-Star. He also leads the NBA in scoring with 1,969 points this season (31.8 per game).

"The 'We Believe' days are over," Green said after the Warriors beat the second-placed Phoenix Suns on Tuesday, having upset the league-leading Utah Jazz the previous night.

"I've won three championships, I'm not part of no 'We Believe' team.

"That's no disrespect to the OGs that came before me. I love those guys and what they started here is incredible. No disrespect to them at all, because what they did is incredible.

"But, no, we're not no 'We Believe' 2.0. We've got fucking Steph Curry on our team."

Wiggins justifies Kerr hype

Curry (21 points) did not need to top the charts against the Suns, as Green had a triple-double and Andrew Wiggins went off for 38, making a joint-career-high 17 field goals.

Wiggins' performance justified pre-game comments from coach Steve Kerr, who spoke of his excitement at the prospect of pairing the forward with injured guard Klay Thompson.

The former Minnesota Timberwolves man has been Curry's right-hand man this year, starting all 70 games and averaging 18.6 points.

Thompson has previously been a dominant scorer for the Warriors with 19.5 points per game across his career before consecutive major injuries ruled him out of the past two seasons.

"It's so valuable to have someone who you know you can count on every single night to play big minutes and to guard one of the opposing team's best players," Kerr said of Wiggins.

"Klay's been that guy for many years, and now Andrew the same thing. So, what I love to think about is next year, having both guys in that role, two guys you can count on to be there night in and night out, because I think that's what's going to be the case with Klay.

"So, we start thinking about that, it gets pretty exciting. But we've got to take care of this year first."