Draymond Green has a reputation as one of the NBA’s top instigators, but there is reasoning behind his antics.
The NBA Finals has been chippy, and the physicality was on display in Game 2. Celtics center Al Horford claimed Green’s antics had “no impact” on Boston, but the Golden State Warriors forward got into it with Jaylen Brown and Grant Williams. It was the incident with Williams that was talked about after Game 2, and Green defended his actions on Tuesday before practice.
“When you see a guy say I grew up watching him, you appreciate it, because that’s why you work,” Green told reporters, per NBC Sports Boston. “You work to create a path for the next young guy. My goal when I first came in here was to create a path for Grant Williams, and so to hear him say that is an honor. And so I don’t take that for granted one bit.
“When you say that and you start talking junk to me, then yes, I’m going to say something about that, of course. I didn’t say anything about that Game 1 because he wasn’t talking to me. I’m not going to watch his press conference where he gives me props, where he appreciates my game and then go throw it in his face. That’s whack to me. I’m not going to do that. That’s just not how I roll.”
Grant Williams has said Green was a player he modeled his game after, which has made the young Celtics forward a key contributor in Boston’s NBA Finals run. Coach Ime Udoka has no problem with his team engaging in trash talk, just as long as it doesn’t get them kicked out of the game, and it appears Green would agree with that sentiment.
“Once he started going at me, and got chippy and yap yap yap, alright bro, you can’t say that and then say this, it just doesn’t add up to me,” Green said. “So then you just go wherever you got to go, and for me, that’s just where I’m going.
“Do I feel like, ‘Na man, I shouldn’t have said that.’ Na. It’s the heat of the battle. You out there on the court. You get to feel sorry for him or yourself if you want to, or it’s going to turn on you. You just keep it moving. Things happen on the basketball court, things are said on the basketball court — it’s the basketball court. I then leave the basketball court. I go home to my normal life.”
Green will likely will be a thorn in the Celtics side throughout the NBA Finals, as he is key to setting the tone of the Warriors. The Celtics will need a proper response as the series moves to Boston for Game 3 on Wednesday.
