It’s rare that Draymond Green gets melancholy in the wake of defeat. But there he was Friday night, after the Warriors’ Game 6 loss to the Houston Rockets, issuing 14 atypically brief responses until the 15th question put a lump in his throat.
Asked about the retirement of legendary San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, Green spent a full three minutes reminiscing about Popovich’s career. Draymond played for Pop, winning a gold medal at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. The two shared a mutual respect. A kinship.
“I just wish,” Green said, near the end of his remarks, “I had one last time to go hug him on the sideline before a game.”
This moment, rich with warm sadness, with Green barely able to subdue his emotions, was an ode to the end of one man’s era coming from the heart of a man who knows his own era is turning down that same road.
Through the first six games of this first-round Western Conference playoff series, there has not been much of the Draymond whose dynamic activity altered the balance of games, even if statistics didn’t always reflect it. He has had moments of brilliance, most notably his game-saving stop of Alperen Şengün in the final seconds of Game 4. There also have been long stretches when Green’s offensive impact is neutralized by burly point guard Fred VanVleet and Houston’s lengthy, athletic wings.
Green’s defense on Şengün – five inches taller, 20 pounds heavier, 12 years younger – has been a fascinating game-by-game skirmish, with each winning his share of battles. Şengün is averaging 20.8 points, on 46.3 percent shooting from the field, and 5.3 assists per game, averages slightly higher than his regular season statistics.
When the Warriors step onto the court Sunday at Toyota Center in Houston for Game 7 against the Rockets, it won’t take long to discover if Draymond still can be that firebrand who can moderate his passion while pushing himself and his teammates to levels beyond imagination.
If he is that dude, the Warriors have a very good chance to beat the odds.
If he is not, the Warriors will need magnificent performances, beginning with Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler III, to have a chance.
“He’s our key in terms of what that emotion looks like,” coach Steve Kerr said Saturday. “He’s been in a bunch of Game 7s. He’s had monster Game 7s.”
Green’s last Game 7 was two years ago as a power forward in a first-round series against the Kings in Sacramento. He finished with eight points, eight assists, six rebounds and two steals. Matching up against Harrison Barnes, Green was plus-25 over 38 minutes, and the Warriors followed Curry’s 50 points to a 120-100 victory.
This time around, Green is at center, wrestling with the considerably more imposing Şengün.
Just as two years ago, it’s win or go home.
“Just got to meet force with force, execute the game plan,” Green said after the Game 6 loss on Friday. “Everybody will be excited. It will be hyped in there. It will be loud.
“Then the game starts and there’s just basketball. You got to execute your game plan, stay the course. They’re going to make runs. Stay the course. Continue to fight. But got to execute.”
There is no question Draymond, one of the game’s biggest brains, knows the way. The first six games of the series, however, have left open the question of whether his body still has the ability to achieve the commands coming from his mind.
He’s averaging 6.6 points per game, shooting 36.6 percent from the field, 26.1 percent from distance, 57.1 percent from the line. While it’s true Draymond’s value defies simple statistics, it’s striking that he’s averaging 5.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.
“I think he recognizes that this series is not pleasant for him,” Kerr said. “He rarely gets the big on him to run, pick and roll. They’re putting VanVleet on him, trying to take him out of the offense, trying to take his rhythm away, trying to goad him into technicals and flagrants, like (Jalen Green did in Game 6). Draymond knows he cannot respond to that stuff in that way.”
If the Warriors leave the arena with a loss, they must cope with knowing that if there is a next postseason opportunity for their accomplished core – Curry, Butler and Green – will come when Curry is 38, Butler and Green each 36.
Green’s career has been among the most challenging of any player still active in the NBA. His uniqueness on defense has utilized to the max, spending nearly half his minutes bumping and banging off men as much as seven inches taller and 50 pounds heavier.
How long can Draymond reasonably be expected to excel at that? Golden State needs an elite performance, something vastly superior to that which he has delivered in any of the first six games.
“He’s just got to maintain his composure and recognize he’s the best defender in the world,” Kerr said. “If we do our jobs, and he’s guarding at his best capability, and he’s maintaining his emotion, and we’re doing our jobs, taking care of the ball, we got a great chance to win.
“And he gets the last laugh.”
That laugh that would affirm to Draymond, the Warriors and the rest of the NBA that this game-changing menace still has plenty of road ahead. And it would be heard all over Texas.
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