After ‘atrocious’ outing and benching in Boston, Draymond Green answers
the call in Game 5
NBA Finals: Draymond Green sets the tone in Warriors' Game 5 win against
Celtics
>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 13: Golden State Warriors’ Draymond
Green (23) celebrates against Boston Celtics in the first quarter of
Game 5 of the NBA Finals at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif.,
on Monday, June 13, 2022. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 13: Golden State Warriors’ Draymond
Green (23) celebrates against Boston Celtics in the first quarter of
Game 5 of the NBA Finals at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif.,
on Monday, June 13, 2022. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
By SHAYNA RUBIN | srubin@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: June 14, 2022 at 5:30 a.m. | UPDATED: June 14, 2022 at 7:48 a.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/06/14/after-atrocious-outing-and-benching-in-boston-draymond-green-answers-the-call-in-game-5/

SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors were up 12 points with just under five
minutes remaining in the game. Draymond Green smelled blood in the water.

The Celtics called timeout, the referee’s whistle blew and Green decided
to keep playing defense on Jayson Tatum — no chance he’d allow the
Celtics star to see the ball splash through the net, even during a
stoppage. So Green kept on him with an arm up and blocked Tatum’s path
back to the bench. Soon a sea of Celtic green surrounded them and
officials pulled Green away.

“In the NBA after timeouts, guys try to get shots up. They didn’t want
me to shoot the ball. I just said, (expletive) it,” Tatum said.

The kerfuffle was inconsequential — no technical fouls were issued — but
it told us everything about Green’s mindset in the Warriors’ 104-94 Game
5 win on Monday. After a self-described “atrocious” Game 3 and an
offensively challenged Game 4 performance, Green not only bounced back,
but set the tone for one of the Warriors’ best defensive games in these
Finals yet.

Tatum might have brushed off the altercation, but the Warriors’ and
Green’s aggression had Boston out of sorts in a pivotal fourth quarter
the Warriors won by nine points — an answer to the Celtics erasing a
double-digit deficit with a 35-point third quarter.

“I felt more like myself, aggressive on both ends of the ball, but I
felt a little more like myself in Game 4 as well, after an atrocious
Game 3,” Green said. “But you’ve just got to continue to build. Tonight
is a great start, and I look forward to going into Game 6 with the same
energy and effort.”

One statistic explains what Green and the Warriors did defensively to
suppress Boston’s scoring: Forcing turnovers. The Celtics had 18
turnovers on Monday that the Warriors turned into 22 points.

Jaylen Brown had five turnovers, Tatum and Marcus Smart each had four.
Plenty of those came on pressure from Green, who forced Brown into two
by applying pressure on his drives. Once, Brown drove into Green and
threw a bad pass right to Gary Payton II, resulting in a transition
layup for Andrew Wiggins on a feed from Steph Curry. In another
instance, Green stayed in front of Brown in transition, forcing him into
a bad layup attempt out of bounds.

Green got his steal on a bad Tatum pass to Robert Williams in the second
quarter.

The entire team had the forced-turnover bug. Payton had one of his most
impactful games, forcing point guard Marcus Smart, in particular, into a
handful of bad passes. Including the interception on Brown’s bad pass,
Payton had three steals.

The Celtics were down nine points with seven minutes remaining — a
comeback still in reach — when Payton picked Brown’s pocket after making
two other defensive rotations. Klay Thompson had two steals and had one
of his best defensive games of the playoffs.

But it was Green who set the tone.

“Draymond, he got us going early with his pressure and his heart and
getting up and down the floor,” Thompson said. “Draymond is the heart
and soul of this team.”

Their physicality defensively fuels the Warriors’ offensive game, but
also sends a ripple through the Celtics’ entire offense. Not only were
they turning the ball over, the Celtics were rushed — save for a
third-quarter run in which they hit six straight 3-pointers to take a
six-point lead.

“I feel like (we were) almost playing into their hands, some of the
things they want us to do, which is taking contested midrange shots and
probably play a little faster than we want at times,” Al Horford said.
“So, you know, I feel like that’s part of the reason why our offense
hasn’t been clicking like it needs to be.”

The Celtics’ physicality on defense gave them their biggest edge heading
into the series — and they’ve squished the Warriors’ half-court offense
into something unproductive. But the Warriors are matching that fight.
Green fouled out of the game with three minutes remaining and the
Warriors up 13 — a sign that he’d been aggressive since tip-off.

With the Celtics applying more double-teams on Curry and disrupting the
pick-and-roll offense, Green found his offensive game as an outlet. He
matched his scoring total from Games 3 and 4 combined, four points,
within the first few minutes of the game.

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Andrew Wiggins has always let his game talk for him. His Game 5
performance spoke volumes.

He had eight points, six assists and seven rebounds for a plus-11. His
impact, as usual, doesn’t show fully on the stat sheet, Curry said, he’s
just a winner.

“He’s just being able to adapt and show his basketball IQ,” Curry said.
“But in a situation like this series where things are not as smooth and
you have some rough patches, he finds a way to respond with the right
energy and approach and toughness that, if you’re watching the game, you
notice him at all times because he’s kind of everywhere.

“We need that grit. We are not in the Finals without him playing at such
a high level all year long, the first three series. And we all have been
in a situation where you don’t necessarily meet your standard of every
game, but you keep coming back and finding ways to help the team win.”

--
Shayna Rubin | Oakland Athletics reporter