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Draymond Green in the NBA Finals: He takes on everyone

2022-06-10T12:42:39.496Z


He is not the star of the Golden State Warriors, but the secret hero: Draymond Green brings aggressiveness into play, is loud and sometimes moody. In the NBA finals against Boston, he becomes a key player.


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Draymond Green is the aggressiveness manager for the Golden State Warriors

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Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

The question wasn't even finished when Draymond Green interrupted the reporter: "Shit."

What was meant was how Green assesses his own performance in game three of the NBA Finals.

like shit

Losing away to the Boston Celtics, his Golden State Warriors are 2-1 down in the best-of-seven series.

Green had more fouls (six) than points (two), and he didn't notice the end of the game after being sent off.

The Warriors are under pressure.

If they also lose game four on Saturday night (3 a.m., Stream: Dazn), the chances of winning the title will decrease enormously.

Only one team has come back from a 1:3 in the history of the NBA Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers 2016 – against the Warriors.

American sports fans who are used to the series mode in knockout competitions call games like game four "must-win game".

The Warriors got into this predicament because they lost the fight under the baskets in the third game.

And this is Green's habitat.

"If I play well, we win," the 32-year-old said after game one.

“If I don't, we can still win.

But if I do, we'll definitely win.” That seems to be the case.

His team's catalyst

While Green isn't the star of the Warriors, that role falls to Stephen Curry, the best long-range shooter in NBA history.

But Green is something of a catalyst, taking his team to a new level.

Because of his style of play - but also because Green brings a quality that should not be underestimated in basketball: aggressiveness.

His domain is defensive.

He was named Defenseman of the Year in 2017 and was a member of the NBA All-Defensive Team seven times.

Although he is only 1.98 meters tall, he is excellent at protecting the basket with his long arms and good footwork, but his greatest quality is his game intelligence.

He knows his opponents' tendencies – from where they aim most effectively, their strengths and weaknesses – positions himself wisely, provokes offensive fouls and barks commands to his teammates.

On defense, Green is the leader of the Warriors.

Just like in game two, when the Warriors got a runaway win.

Green clawed and bit, shoved and grappled - and held his direct opponent Jaylen Brown at a hit rate of 29.4 percent.

Overall, the Celtics only had 88 points.

Turnstile in attack

But green is also important in the Warriors' attack, although most of the time it's not noticeable, at least when you look at the stat sheet.

Even after excellent performance, there are often only unremarkable balance sheets.

However, his influence on the Golden States Offense can be seen in the numbers of his teammates, because Green is primarily valuable as a playmaker.

The Warriors offense has worked for years with fast passes and constant movement without the ball. Nobody stands still, hardly anyone dribbles.

Curry and Klay Thompson, the two long-distance specialists, are blocked freely and either get the ball themselves to finish or draw defenders on them so that others can be played freely.

The node in this system is Green.

He usually stands in the middle of the field.

From there, Green either shoves the ball into the hands of passing teammates, takes a few steps to get in the way of an opponent, identifies mismatches in opposing defense, or waits and then passes in with just the right timing Gaps.

With Green's involvement, Golden State develops flow in attack.

Curry is the Warriors' best player, one of the best in NBA history, that's beyond dispute.

This style of play stems from his attraction to defenders.

He's performing well, his stats are consistent.

But Golden State only becomes really dangerous when Green also plays well.

He is the catalyst that takes the team to another level - at least in its best version.

Loud and moody

Green's aggressiveness is a constant tightrope walk.

He often concedes a technical foul because he complains too much to the referees or provokes his opponents.

Green likes to bully and regularly triggers a small scuffle on the court.

He gives his team a certain toughness.

But that doesn't always work out well, sometimes it even has serious consequences.

As in the 2016 final series against Cleveland: The fact that the Warriors were the first team to lose a 3-1 lead was also due to a ban that Green received for hitting LeBron James in the crotch with his forearm during a tussle.

Green is a frontier worker.

"I never go into the game with the thought: I have to be careful just to stay in the game," Green said after game two against Boston.

"If I'm careful, they might as well throw me out because it won't help my team."

Green said so on his own podcast.

Players producing their own talk shows (like former soccer player Toni Kroos did) is a relatively new trend in the NBA.

Green is sometimes critical of traditional media.

In his podcast, however, he is also harsh on himself.

In the night after game three, Green analyzed his poor performance:

"Tonight was maybe one of the worst games of my career," he said, explaining that he had done exactly what he had previously discussed wrong.

He was too careful.

After each playoff game, Green releases a new episode.

His performance on the pitch will determine whether he can report on the success or failure of his team.

Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2022-06-10

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