Year later, Green grows into giant
Forward shows off his stuff as Warriors romp
It was almost a year ago, inside the visitors’ locker room at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena where Draymond Green sat with such a dour look and defeated disposition.
Everything about him was out of character. His play. His utter lack of confidence. His inability to muster some spirit and meet the moment. In hushed tones, he said after Game 3 of last year’s NBA Finals that he picked the worst possible time to lose his way. His Golden State Warriors were down 2-1 to the Cavaliers, and Green was as big a reason as any as to why.
Fast forward 361 days, with the Warriors having rolled the Cavs 110-77 on Sunday at Oracle Arena to take a commanding 2-0 series lead in this underwhelming rematch, and Green finds himself atop the early leaderboard of Finals MVP candidates. Green, who looked so shook by the magnitude of the stage in 2015 when he missed 23 of 31 shots through three games, turned in a 28-point, seven-rebound, five-assist outing that surely left Cavs fans wondering — again — when their city’s 52-year championship drought might end.
Teams that fall behind 2-0 in the Finals have lost 28 of 31 times, and 244 of 261 teams that trailed 2-0 in a seven-game series fell short. So yes, in other words, it’s as ugly as the Cavs’ three-point attack that has been eviscerated by the Warriors’ defense through two games (12-fo-44 for 22.7% — after they averaged 14.4 made threes on 43.2% shooting in the playoffs entering the Finals).
This is another example of why the Warriors pose such problems for a Cavaliers team that has been outclassed in every way. They were the better team a year ago, and they’ve only grown into more of a basketball monster ever since.
For all the talk of how things might have been different back then if Cleveland hadn’t been without Kyrie Irving (after Game 1) and Kevin Love, the reality is that Golden State improved in the kind of way that we simply shouldn’t overlooked. It went way beyond the simple math — 67 regular-season wins in 2014-15, a record 73 this season — and into less-tangible things like maturity, poise and unwavering belief.
Add in the fact that they’re just days removed from surviving an Oklahoma City Thunder team that tested those traits like no other, and it’s easy to see why this challenge seems so — well — easy. So far, anyway.
Green is as good a case study as any of the Warriors’ improvement that took place in their title defense, as he got significantly better in every area that matters while maintaining his defensive prowess that is so crucial to their team concept. He channeled his inner Stephen Curry in Game 2, hitting as many three-pointers (five on eight attempts) as he had in the entire six-game series against Cleveland a year ago.
None was better than his offthe-dribble shot from the top in the third quarter, when he slid to the left to avoid Richard Jefferson’s reach and sparked quite the bench celebration from Curry when it fell through for a 74-57 lead. It came during a 30-16 run without Curry that put the Warriors up 82-62 entering the fourth.
“Steve Kerr wouldn’t like you if you tell me I’m channeling my inner Steph Curry,” Green, who had 16 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists in Game 1, told a reporter who floated that lighthearted theory. “But no, those were rhythm shots. I’m sure you’re talking about the one where I danced at the top a little bit and shot the three. Awful shot. It was pathetic, but everybody — the ball stopped moving, players stopped moving, so I thought, ‘All right, well, I’m going to get some shot up,’ and it happened to go in.
“When Steph’s on the bench, it really turns into a complete team effort because Steph can do so much by himself to create offense for guys that when he goes out, we really use each other.”
That’s the part that has to have Cavs coach Tyronn Lue spooked. The Warriors, this team that supposedly relies so heavily on the Curry-Klay Thompson duo that has revolutionized the NBA with its three-point shooting, is up 2-0 despite the Splash Brothers’ combined scoring average being a little more than half of their regular-season rate (27.5 combined points per game vs. 52.2).
This has been a team-wide terrorizing, with Green but one of the many who are making the Cavs look foolish for the simplistic story line they fed all season. It was always a mystery what the LeBron James-Irving-Love trio might be able to do against the Warriors, but we’re seeing now that it’s not an imposing look. And the Warriors, from then until now, have proved their worth against any and all comers.
“What we’ve done these last two games doesn’t put a damper or a cloud over how we got to this point,” James said afterward. “We’re still here and we have a chance to turn this series around if we come in and do what we need to do both offensively and defensively.
“Internally we have to figure out how we can be better. We have to figure out how we can help one another. We definitely have to figure out how we can get more guys involved.”
Yet from Green on down, that right there is precisely where the Warriors have them beat.
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