Draymond Green’s mom weighs in on Warriors-Celtics NBA Finals
Warriors star Draymond Green has been the center of NBA discussions
since Game 2 of NBA Finals
>Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green introduces his mother,
Mary Babers-Green during a “Most Valuable Moms” Q&A session event along
with Jordan Bell’s mother, Carolyn Gray at the Rakuten Performance
Center in Oakland on March 28, 2018.
Ray Chavez/Staff archives
>Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green introduces his mother,
Mary Babers-Green during a “Most Valuable Moms” Q&A session event along
with Jordan Bell’s mother, Carolyn Gray at the Rakuten Performance
Center in Oakland on March 28, 2018. Ray Chavez/Staff archives
By MICHAEL NOWELS | mnowels@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: June 8, 2022 at 2:16 p.m. | UPDATED: June 9, 2022 at 4:25 a.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/06/08/draymond-greens-mom-weighs-in-on-warriors-celtics-nba-finals/

Mary Babers-Green spent years defending her son online, but she’s given up.

Draymond Green, the Warriors’ starting power forward and emotional
engine, doesn’t need that anymore. The four-time All Star, two-time
Olympic gold medalist and former defensive player of the year is back in
the NBA Finals, seeking his fourth ring.

He’s proven enough over his 10-year NBA career that she doesn’t feel the
need to stick up for him.

“They can say whatever they want, that’s an opinion, but the black and
white is already written,” she said Wednesday on 95.7 The Game’s Morning
Roast. “So I don’t say anything anymore. That’s why I’m not on Twitter
anymore.”

Babers-Green said she just recently learned who ESPN commentator
Kendrick Perkins is, and as for Draymond’s beef with Charles Barkley,
her son “can always put up that middle finger and say, ‘It’s a ring,
Chuck.’ He can’t deny that. He doesn’t have a ring.”

She says she’s not allowed on his podcast, where he breaks down much of
the action around the NBA as part of what he calls the “new media” in
which players are taking control of their own narratives.

Green himself has been at the center of discussion across the league
this week, which would be natural for any major character on one of two
teams left standing. But in typical Draymond fashion, the debate shows
have raged on about whether he crossed the proverbial line in Game 2:
Did he deserve a second technical foul for a dust-up with Jaylen Brown?
Did he get the first technical intentionally so the officials would
avoid giving him a second? Is he deep in the Celtics’ heads, or is he
teetering on the edge himself?

His mother says she thought his nine-point, seven-assist, five-rebound
performance was spot-on.

“I thought he did great, to me. He’s physical,” she said. “We look at
basketball today, they’ll say ‘Oh, basketball is soft,’ but then when
you play tough, ‘Oh, he’s doing this and he’s doing that.’ I thought it
was great. I liked it. Somebody’s got to do it.”

The Celtics have been asked several times over the last couple days
about Green’s aggressive play in Game 2, and have largely spoken about
the need to stay focused on their own game. Brown said that he knows
that Green looks to “muck the game up, pull me, grab me and overall
raise the intensity. I feel like they got away with a lot of stuff
tonight, but I’m looking forward to the challenge of the next game.”

Babers-Green said she thought Boston’s criticism of her son’s play was
“ridiculous” because the Celtics are “supposedly the tough guys.”

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Asked about the most worrisome moment over the last three years, she
spoke about the disc injury her son suffered this winter that resulted
in leg pain and kept him out from early January through mid-March.

“I think it was way more than people really knew. That was a crazy
injury and it was scary, but he willed himself back,” she said, leaving
the details to Green to explain later.

It was clear over the last several years just how heavily losing weighed
on Green after seeing the top of the NBA mountain during the Warriors’
run from 2015 to 2019.

His mother feels that those struggles would make winning this year’s
championship even sweeter.

“I think this would be the most satisfying for every Warrior fan on the
planet, and it’s just because of the things we’ve been through,” she
said. “We’ve been through adversity after adversity after adversity, so
if we get through this (as) champions, oh boy, the Bay is about to erupt.”

--
Michael Nowels | Digital Sports Strategist
Mike covers sports.