Even in grade school, exciting, excitable player would deliver in the biggest games
Draymond Green played smothering defense and wouldn’t back down in important games, despite the thick tension and high stakes.
The Warriors chasing a slice of NBA history?
No, the fifth-grade Longstreet Cougars in Saginaw, Mich.
Green actually was in third grade at the time, playing for his uncle, Bennie Baber. Baber needed help on the fifthgrade team he coached — its first playoff opponent, Nelle Haley Elementary School, had a big kid nicknamed “Chocolate” — so he summoned Green and gave him the assignment.
Chocolate outweighed Green by a hefty margin, as Baber recalled, but young Draymond shut him down and helped the Cougars storm to the championship. Imagine that: Green rising to
the occasion when it matters most.
“I knew Dray was strong enough and had the willpower to do it,” Baber said this week. “That was his M.O. He wasn’t scared, and he wasn’t going to shy away from it.”
More than 20 years later, as the Warriors prepare for Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night in Toronto, that’s still how Green operates. He has elevated his game in these playoffs, propelling Golden State into the Finals for the fifth consecutive year.
Green is averaging 13.6 points, 9.9 rebounds and 8.2 assists in the postseason, all increases over his regularseason numbers (7.4, 7.3 and 6.9). Baber, who watches every game on television at home in Saginaw, is not the least bit surprised.
“He’s paying attention to every detail and just playing basketball the way it’s supposed to be played,” Baber said. “He’s been doing that ever since elementary school. He just loves to play when it matters.”
That also was the case at Michigan State, where Green played for head coach Tom Izzo. Green let himself fall out of shape during his freshman year, much as he did this season with the Warriors, and averaged less than 12 minutes per game.
Then, after Green lost weight and the Spartans reached the NCAA Tournament, Izzo found himself sending Green onto the court in the closing minutes of nearly every game.
“Eventually, I figured out how dumb I was: He should be playing all the time,” Izzo said in a phone interview.
There are many examples of Green performing well when Michigan State needed him. He had a triple-double (23 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists) in an opening-round NCAA Tournament loss to UCLA during his junior season. He averaged 17.7 points and 13.7 rebounds (higher than his regular-season numbers) in three NCAA games for the Spartans as a senior.
Green also scored a careerhigh 34 points in leading Michigan State to a difficult win at Gonzaga in December 2011, earlier in his senior season.
So Izzo, much like Baber, fully expects Green to shift into another gear for the Warriors in the playoffs, especially after a subpar regular season.
“I used to tell people I know what Draymond can’t do: He’s too slow, too fat and doesn’t shoot great,” Izzo said. “But what he can do is very important to any GM, owner or coach: He knows how to win. …
“The past month and a half is the best basketball I’ve ever seen him play. He covers three guys half the time and he’s all over the place on the back line. He sets a screen, and he can move a little and change the angle. That’s his intelligence, and he’s one of the toughest guys I’ve ever had.”
Green’s intelligence and toughness became even more vital for the Warriors when Kevin Durant went down with a strained right calf in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals. Several players stepped forward to fill the void the past five-plus games, none more dramatically than Green and Stephen Curry.
Worth noting: Green’s postseason intensity doesn’t always work in his team’s favor. His tussle with LeBron James in the 2016 Finals led to a one-game suspension, which in turn led to the Warriors squandering a 3-1 lead and ultimately losing to Cleveland.
If Green had showed some restraint when James stepped over him, maybe the Warriors are pursuing their fifth consecutive championship this year.
Still, it’s nothing new for Green to increase his production in the postseason. He also improved his rebounding (7.6 to 10.6 per game) and assists (7.3 to 8.1) in last year’s playoffs. Two years ago, he bumped up his scoring (10.2 points to 13.1).
The same thing happened in 2016 (from 14 points per game to 15.4) and 2015, when Green boosted his numbers across the board (11.7 points, 8.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists in the regular season, 13.7, 10.1 and 5.2 in the playoffs).
That inaugural Finals journey showed Green he thrives by treating the postseason with practically a “life or death” urgency, as he put it.
“If you asked me how I felt (in 2015), it was like somebody had a clamp on my lungs and I didn’t breathe well for seven weeks,” he said. “And then when we won, it was just like, ‘Wow, somebody took off the clamp and I could breathe again.’ That’s kind of how it’s felt for me since I’ve been a starter in the playoffs.”
Cynics might suggest Green had room for improvement in this year’s playoffs, after a regular season marked by diminishing numbers and his memorable November tiff with Durant. Green’s regular-season production dropped compared with 2017-18: from 11 points per game to 7.4, from 7.6 rebounds to 7.3, from 7.3 assists to 6.9.
His shooting percentage on 3-pointers fell from 30.1 to 28.5, prompting many opponents to leave him alone at the arc and essentially dare him to shoot.
But Green lost 23 pounds over a six-week stretch in March and April, as the playoffs approached. He found renewed energy, then discovered a higher realm when his team needed him more than ever in the wake of Durant’s injury.
“He wasn’t playing at this level in the regular season, and he would be the first to admit it,” head coach Steve Kerr said. “… But it would be humanly impossible to play the way he’s playing right now for a hundred-plus games for five straight years.”
Izzo came to the Bay Area during Golden State’s firstround series against the Clippers. During their postgame conversation, Green told his former coach that he was getting back in great shape and Izzo soon would see the difference.
Green was right. He’s playing even better than he did as a third grader.