Draymond Green and the Warriors show how defense fuels their dynasty
NBA Finals: Draymond Green says they beat Celtics "because of our defense"
>BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – JUNE 16: Golden State Warriors’ Draymond
Green (23) gestures to teammate Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry
(30) after Curry made a 3-point basket during the fourth quarter of Game
6 of the NBA Finals at TD Garden in Boston, Mass., on Thursday, June 16,
2022. The Golden State Warriors defeated the Boston Celtics 103-90.
(Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
>BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – JUNE 16: Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green
(23) gestures to teammate Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30)
after Curry made a 3-point basket during the fourth quarter of Game 6 of
the NBA Finals at TD Garden in Boston, Mass., on Thursday, June 16,
2022. The Golden State Warriors defeated the Boston Celtics 103-90.
(Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
By SHAYNA RUBIN | srubin@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: June 16, 2022 at 11:24 p.m. | UPDATED: June 17, 2022 at 7:00 a.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/06/16/draymond-green-and-the-warriors-show-how-defense-fuels-their-dynasty/

BOSTON — Cigar smoke seeped out of the visiting locker room along with
the stench of champagne. A loud chant came with it.

“[Expletive] you, Draymond! [Expletive] you, Draymond!”

This time, the chant wasn’t a taunt from Boston Celtics fans. It came
from Draymond Green’s teammates in celebration.

The Warriors had just won their fourth NBA title in six tries — this one
at a hostile TD Garden against a Celtics team many said would win. And
none of it possible without Green, whose role as the defensive guru
culminated with a masterful Game 6 performance in their 103-90 win on
Thursday in Boston.

Green is known to get in his teammates’ ears and under their skin, if
necessary. So maybe the offensive chant was a release.

“Draymond been yelling at us all year, too,” Kevon Looney said.

Or maybe it was a tribute to a player that thrives under scrutiny.

>BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - JUNE 16: Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green
(23) defends against Boston Celtics' Robert Williams (44) in the second
quarter of Game 6 of the NBA Finals at TD Garden in Boston, Mass., on
Thursday, June 16, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – JUNE 16: Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green
(23) defends against Boston Celtics’ Robert Williams (44) in the second
quarter of Game 6 of the NBA Finals at TD Garden in Boston, Mass., on
Thursday, June 16, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

Offense beautifies this historic team as much as it has sustained it.
Steph Curry and Klay Thompson’s 3-point shooting revolutionized the game
and popularized a jump-shooting offense that drew plenty of doubt during
their first run eight years ago. Now the 3-pointer has become a staple
of every NBA team, and the Warriors seemed to have maintained their
mastery despite all the copycats coming for them.

But none of the Warriors’ success exists without a top defense and the
dirty work Green has always carried with pride. It’s a job that earns
him a flood of scrutiny when he slips up. And a few bad games in these
Finals had him drowning; was his podcast distracting him from the task
at hand? Was his below average offense dragging down their late-game
execution? Green was benched during the offensive possessions in crunch
time of the Warriors’ Game 4 win last week. Outside the locker room,
people wondered if the one-time Defensive Player of the Year, at age 32,
still had it.

Trust that Green always has his ear to the ground and eyes on his social
media feed. He heard ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith say that Green
was “having the most horrific Finals of an NBA starter in history,” he
said. He laughed at the idea that his podcast, the Draymond Green Show,
was a distraction.

>BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - JUNE 16: Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green
(23) reacts after an officials call during the second quarter of Game 6
of the NBA Finals at TD Garden in Boston, Mass., on Thursday, June 16,
2022. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – JUNE 16: Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green
(23) reacts after an officials call during the second quarter of Game 6
of the NBA Finals at TD Garden in Boston, Mass., on Thursday, June 16,
2022. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

Green summarized his scrutinized Finals performance briefly:

“Game 1, I did not have a bad Game 1, and I had an incredible Game 2.

And Game 3 was kind of like, terrible, awful.

And Game 4 was not my best effort but not totally special.

And Game 5, I was pretty solid. Came out with great energy.

Game 6, I dominated.”

As for the expletive-ridden chants. Green appreciated it.

“This fan base gave me a hard time, a really hard time,” Green said
during the trophy ceremony. “To come here and get a win is awesome. I
appreciate this fan base. They brought incredible energy. Have to give
kudos to them. But we did what we do. Welcome back to the Warriors
invitational, baby. That’s what we do.”

The Celtics were supposed to be the juggernaut defense. They came into
the Finals with the league’s best defensive rating, expected to stoke
fear in the Warriors’ hearts. But Golden State flipped the script. In
all four of their wins they held Boston under 100 points and made
budding superstar Jayson Tatum look pedestrian.

>BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - JUNE 16: Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum (0)
attempts to shoot past Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green (23) during
the second quarter of Game 6 of the NBA Finals at TD Garden in Boston,
Mass., on Thursday, June 16, 2022. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – JUNE 16: Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum (0)
attempts to shoot past Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green (23) during
the second quarter of Game 6 of the NBA Finals at TD Garden in Boston,
Mass., on Thursday, June 16, 2022. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News
Group)

Green spoke all series about the Warriors’ point-of-attack defense.
Using their help defense to force the Celtics’ star wings, Tatum and
Jaylen Brown, to play in traffic. The strategy bit them in the behind in
Game 1, when the Celtics kicked the ball out of traffic to the open
3-point shooter — and those shooters hit 21 3-pointers to win in a
stunner at Chase Center.

Green played “like [expletive],” in his words, in a poor defensive Game
3 loss. But the team keyed in for Game 4 and never let up, winning those
three straight, in part, by forcing a turnover-happy Boston offense into
an average 16 turnovers per game.

Boston turned the ball over a series-high 22 times on Thursday with
Green at his very best, on point for every defensive rotation and
disrupting Boston’s desperate drives to the paint. He wasn’t alone,
either. Gary Payton II was a menace at the point-of-attack after his
return in Game 2 from a broken left elbow.

Andrew Wiggins, a first-time NBA champion, hounded Tatum as his primary
defender. Tatum averaged 21.5 points per game and scored just 13 points
in a pivotal Game 6.

“That man made my life so easy,” Klay Thompson said. “I used to have to
do his job and I’m looking at him like that is exhausting, Bro, you’ve
got to get buckets and guard the best player? That’s crazy.”

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Perhaps the Warriors’ defense was underrated heading into this. The
Celtics had all the credibility, riding the momentum of a league-best
106.9 defensive rating that only grew stronger as the playoffs
approached. They swept Kevin Durant’s Nets, toppled Giannis
Antetokounmpo’s defending champion Bucks and outlasted Jimmy Butler’s
relentless Miami Heat.

>BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - JUNE 16: Golden State Warriors' Andrew Wiggins
(22) takes a shot against Boston Celtics' Grant Williams (12) in the
second quarter of Game 6 of the NBA Finals at TD Garden in Boston,
Mass., on Thursday, June 16, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – JUNE 16: Golden State Warriors’ Andrew Wiggins
(22) takes a shot against Boston Celtics’ Grant Williams (12) in the
second quarter of Game 6 of the NBA Finals at TD Garden in Boston,
Mass., on Thursday, June 16, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

And the Warriors had a knock on their reputation from the regular
season. It was no coincidence that their March skid that saw them go
5-11 in the month and a poor defensive performance coincided with
Green’s back injury that sidelined him for two months. It was no
coincidence that the defense slowly glued back together again when he
returned.