Green fuels surge with play on both ends
It’s almost like Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr knew it was coming: Draymond Green’s 30-minute master class, complete with 15 points, seven rebounds, nine assists and a technical foul.
And one unhappy seven-footer in the visiting locker room at Chase Center after it ended.
“We did not want him to be Mr. Goody TwoShoes. We wanted him to be himself, but not go over the line,” Kerr said Saturday before a 113-112 victory over the Phoenix Suns and center Jusuf Nurkic that might as well have doubled as Green’s personal playground.
Apologies from Kerr to the “political-correctness police. Please don’t come after me for that.”
Added Kerr as part of his premonition, “We want him to be on the officials, but not yell profanity at the officials. He’s himself but he’s not crossing the line. He’s been great.”
So too have the Warriors since Green returned to their lineup.
With Green starting the past eight games as their small-ball center, the Warriors have finally found their groove — winning six to bring their record back up to 25-25 and move into 10th place in the Western Conference.
One of the two losses was in overtime and the other was by a single point, just like the margin they finally won by Saturday, when Green plugged pick-and-rolls, pestered the perimeter, orchestrated offense, antagonized officials — and needled Nurkic to the point that he couldn’t produce.
Save for comments in defeat during the postgame press conference.
Green said of what he has learned since his suspension, “That when I’m in the game, we’re a very good basketball team. Incredible. And I think people are starting to see that.”
As good as any team in the NBA — or so it would seem in the last eight games.
With Green functioning since Jan. 27 as Golden State’s center, the Warriors are third in net rating (plus 9.4 points per 100 possessions), second in defensive rating (108.4), second in rebounding rate (54.5%) and fifth in pace (101.3 possessions per game) — winning his 243 minutes by 93 points.
The statistics for Green are easy to quantify. What isn’t is his leadership or emotional lift. Allow Gary Payton II an attempt, after he made his own return to the rotation, his injured hamstring healed and his twoway play also welcome: “I love to see him barking. Fighting. It’s just him.”
Payton expanded on his point. “The nature of him. A competitor. He’s great. I love it,” he said. “It gets me fired up. And I’m sure it gets everybody else fired up. So once he gets going, I think everybody should just follow and have his back and bring that same intensity.” On offense, he’s pulling opposing centers from the key or dribbling into handoffs when they don’t comply — clearing the lane for penetration and shooters for open 3pointers while facilitating from the top of the key.
Defensively, he still bothers bigs with his positioning and activity — switching onto the perimeter and talking teammates through their rotations. On both ends, he’s talking trash. Exactly what the Warriors want him to do.
“That’s his identity. That’s who he is as a basketball player. It’d be like me running out there and not shooting 3s,” Stephen Curry said. “I know he’s in a delicate situation and he’s trying to figure that out and not let it spill over because we can’t have that and he knows that.
“Can’t afford to let it get out of control, but it fuels him because he lives for those moments where (he’s thinking) ‘It’s just how we’re going to win this game, and I’m coming at you, and you’ve got to go through me.’ You’ve seen that in the best of moments for sure. We want to encourage him to keep doing that.”