Warriors need Green to keep bringing heat
OAKLAND, Calif. — We finally know what it takes to make a Draymond Green technical foul not a point of national obsession.
A resounding 41-point victory.
Green’s foul —part of a double technical given to him and Trevor Ariza — came late in the fourth quarter of Game 3 when the Golden State Warriors were completely in control. There was a skirmish, a whistle and Green ended up with his third technical of the playoffs. A total of seven would lead to a suspension.
“I thought it was unfair,” Steve Kerr said when finally asked about it Monday. “We’ll take it up with the league. He committed a hard foul and held him up, didn’t allow him to get hurt, and then Ariza shoved him.”
There was no postgame discussion about whether Green is hurting his team. Or if he is out of control. He has been dominant defensively in the Warriors’ two victories and, truth be told, Golden State is going to need every bit of the Green effect in Game 4 on Tuesday. The ratcheting up of intensity. The defensive communication. The barely contained Draymond fury.
“Our defensive intensity and edge will determine how far we go,” Kerr said.
‘Oh my gosh, Draymond’
Green’s contribution will become even more important with the news that Andre Iguodala is doubtful with a knee injury. Iguodala was hobbling late in Game 3. Without Iguodala’s defensive presence, Green’s leadership role is magnified.
On Sunday night, the Green effect was lost amidst the whirling Curry-cane of offense and the lopsided score, but it was there in the box score — 17 rebounds, 15 on the defensive end, 10 points, six assists, a steal and a blocked shot. A plus-26 to follow up his plus-19 in Game 1.
“Oh my gosh, Draymond,” Kerr said after the game. “His ability to impact the game in so many ways, defensively, getting out on Harden and Paul and switching, rebounding, staying on Capela’s legs and trying to knock the ball away on lobs and protect the rim without fouling. Draymond is just a tremendous defender.
“I thought his performance tonight was unreal.”
Barkley doesn’t get it
Almost as good was Kevin Durant’s performance on the TNT postgame set after the game when Charles Barkley asked if Green is “as annoying in person as he is on television?”
Green, of course, has been one of Barkley’s targets this postseason. He said he wanted to punch Green in the face, and Green responded by pointing out that he sees Barkley all the time and Barkley can bring it on if he so chooses.
Durant coolly responded to Barkley:
“You should go talk to him. He’s downstairs.”
As far as Durant knows, Barkley never did.
“No, I don’t think so,” Durant said. “I know everything he says is a joke. He’s on TV, and that’s his job. You never take anything seriously, but you still got to let him know it’s not joke-time all the time. It’s all fun and games.”
Durant took the time to enumerate Green’s contributions on defense:
“Draymond’s attention to detail, his long arms, talking everyone through stuff. Especially on a perimeter team, Draymond’s behind you telling you what to do.”
And his fire. Don’t forget his fire.
The Warriors need to be on guard for a letdown, like they had in Game 2. They can’t keep the sweet memory of a 41-point rout in their head. As Kerr pointed out, stealing a line from Danny Ainge in the 1980s, this isn’t the Tour de France. A giant win in one game didn’t increase their overall lead in any way.
Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said all the pressure is on the Warriors — and maybe it is because they don’t want to give back the home-court advantage that they already stole. But it also is on the Rockets, who will be desperate, and the Warriors can’t afford to come out slow or sloppy like they did in Game 2.
“Draymond said it the other day; we’re allowed one of these a series, and we already had it in Game 2,” Kerr said. “It doesn’t matter what happened yesterday. We’ve got to be ready for a great team that’s going to come out attacking, hair on fire.”
The Warriors need to respond with their own hair on fire. We know who’s the man with the matches.
Ann Killion is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist.