Energized Green unleashes dynamic force
OAKLAND >> We’re living in a special era of basketball.
For my money, the basketball players have never been more athletic, more versatile or more skilled, and that, in conjunction with a wave of tactical brilliance, means that the NBA game has never been better.
Think about it: how blessed are we to get to watch LeBron James, James Harden, Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis in one weekend?
These are all-time great players with few, if any, comparisons in basketball history.
But even though two of those players — Davis and Durant — were on the same court in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals series at Oracle Arena on Saturday night, I couldn’t take my eyes off of another player who continues to defy comparison: Draymond Green. The Warriors do-it-all forward was spellbinding on Saturday night, making plays on offense and, to steal a phrase from Golden State coach Steve Kerr, “blowing (stuff) up” on defense.
Green was the Warriors’ top point guard and their starting center all at the same time. He was everywhere in Game 1 — the driving force behind Golden State’s 123-101 victory.
How many players can you think of who can shut down Davis, a 7-foot unicorn and top MVP candidate, on one end of the court and run a record-
setting, high-flying offense on the other end?
If there’s a list, it’s small.
Saturday was one of the best games of Green’s incredible career and, for once, his stat line came close to properly reflecting his prodigious impact on the contest.
Green only played 30 minutes, because, frankly, that’s all he needed to play. In that time, he scored 16 points, pulled down 15 rebounds, and handed out 11 assists — his fourth playoff triple-double, setting a new Warriors franchise record. (The Warriors are now 26-0 when Green has a triple-double.)
Green also had three steals and two blocks in the contest — in all, Green’s line, 16/15/11/3/2, was unique in NBA playoff history.
But it was another number told the story behind Green’s impact — his plus-minus rating: plus-28.
(And Davis? He was minus-27 in the game — that’s no coincidence.)
Playing a team which wants to run just as much as they do, the Warriors were a downright juggernaut when Green was on the court. At the core of the Warriors’ game plan — nay, their identity — is to turn defense into offense, and Green, as per usual, was at the center of that.
“My job on the defensive end is to make sure that these guys are all on the same page,” Green said. “On a team you have a role and my role is to be the catalyst of the defense. I try to take pride in that. I try to turn it up a bunch.”
Yeah, you can say Green turned it up Saturday. His defensive energy brought Oracle Arena to a fever pitch — Kerr noted that it was the loudest he heard the arena all season, and I have to agree with him.
“(Green’s energy is) very contagious. He’s going to yell at you a couple times, but that’s OK,” Klay Thompson joked after the game. “When he gets hyped, we all get hyped. We all feel it. It’s just like if me or Steph were to hit four or five threes in a row.“
After starting the game with Davis as his primary mark, Green’s defensive attention (if you can call it that) turned to Pelicans point guard Rajon Rondo. Guarding Rondo allowed Green to freelance to his heart’s desire, slacking off from the poor-shooting guard to double-team whomever he pleased (it was usually Davis).
“He’s a tremendous player. He’s a really smart player,” Pelicans coach and former Warriors assistant Alvin Gentry said after the game. “Obviously, Draymond affords [the Warriors] a situation where they can do a lot of different things and play a lot of different players.”
That action wasn’t limited to the defensive end, though that would have been enough on Saturday. No, Green kept the Pelicans honest with his offense as well. New Orleans couldn’t trap Durant when he had the ball, lest he moved it to Green and let the Warriors’ big man play 4-on3, but they also couldn’t guard the 7-foot sharpshooter one-on-one.
The result of Green’s prodigious play was a 37-16 Warriors run to end the second quarter, 79-point first half for Golden State and a 22-point victory that, frankly, wasn’t indicative of the performance.
Going into this postseason, there were questions about what would happen if Golden State didn’t win the title after a season where it started as prohibitive favorites to do so.
Without Stephen Curry — at least for the first part of the postseason — and against what might be the strongest Western Conference playoff field in the Kerr era, those questions were fair.
They still are — even if they’re quieter after the first six games.
Green was in the crosshairs of those conversations — he has two years left on his contract and there’s a pervasive belief that of the Warriors’ four star players, he’ll be the first to decline. An injury-filled season only entrenched those beliefs.
But Saturday’s game was a tremendous reminder of Green’s incredible impact on this Warriors team.
It’s easy to believe that Curry made the Warriors, but, as I’ve said before, Green was just as integral to Golden State’s rise as the two-time MVP.
I know it’s a tired, old cliche, but defense still wins championships. (Good offense helps a whole lot, to be fair.)
And what Curry and his incredible 3-point shooting has been to offenses around the league — trendsetting — Green, and his ability to switch everything and be an elite perimeter and paint defender, is to other side of the game.