A bench press session was scheduled after the game, and Draymond Green managed to lift it up with a little extra aggression. When he finished in the weight room, a small gym located between the locker room and the training ground, he briskly walked over to his locker. Head down. calm. The expression on his face wasn’t completely frowning, but it was stern enough to give off the same feeling.
Green looked angry. At least frustrating to the point of urgency. He didn’t play well. Not playing well was the reason the Warriors lost home court advantage in the Western Conference Semifinals with a 117-112 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Not playing it well is how the Lakers can win this series. He can’t no Play well.
He only had 4 rebounds in 34 minutes of action and only had 6 points on his 9 shots. He had 7 assists and no turnovers, but his mark didn’t make the first game. The Lakers outscored the Warriors by eight goals while on the floor. He scoffed at any notion of a hangover from the seven-game series against the Kings. The Lakers are a very different beast, but Green knew what was coming. He knew what he had to do. That is why he is angry with himself.
“I have to play better,” he said in his locker, still shaking his head.
Green tore off the jersey he was lifting weights in, threw on a white Warriors hoodie, and then went into the interview room. He usually gets dressed before addressing the media. But he was really focusing on Game 2, so he was locked in on the rebound, he had better be right behind him in Game 1. The page was turned. But not in a way that puts this person behind us. More like moving forward.
What it takes to beat this 0-1 hole and beat the Lakers points straight to Draymond Green. Nobody understands that more than Green. It will take speed and energy. It would take getting the Lakers to somehow pay for a dip in the paint. It will take a solution Anthony Davis. What was made clear after Tuesday’s loss was how the Warriors’ response to the Western Conference Finals was Green at his best.
When the Warriors took control of the game, they played fast and pushed the pace. They attacked the Lakers in transition. That’s the green, and he’s pushing the ball hard to get the Warriors looking ahead of the defense packs. This is Green, showing off his pace advantage over the center he’s been forced to keep up with.
“It starts with our aggression,” Green said. He has an idea to improve it next time.
“My aggression is on both ends of the earth,” he said. “I think I let those three (first-half) mistakes knock me out of the rhythm and never find them again.”
This is the second straight home game in which a bad tackle has stymied Greene’s impact. It is no coincidence that the Warriors have lost their last two home games.
He has been described as the heart of the Warriors, in part because of his influence on the pulse of their game. It was evident in the opening minutes of Game 1, when the Warriors took an early lead. They did to the Lakers what the Kings did to them in the first round – they raised the pace to frantic levels. Green was pushing the ball up the court, putting pressure on the Lakers to come back.
They took 31 shots in the first quarter. They were on course for 124 tries (and finished with 106). This is relentless. And it was mostly with two big guys on the field. They scored nearly half of their points on the fast break in the first 12 minutes. The toll it took was evident in the finale, when the Lakers were gassed while the Warriors ramped up their power. But the Warriors lost a key component of their rhythm with Green getting in serious trouble and getting off the beat.
Three players ahead of the Warriors: Stephen Curry, Jordan Paul and Green. (Donte DiVincenzo is another player, but he didn’t play much on Tuesday.) Curry was being chased around the field, often face-to-face. Paul, by virtue of his ability to move very quickly at times, was a little more cautious. This leaves green.
It’s important for more than just a tired Lakers team. It’s also for getting an early offense and avoiding the Lakers’ half-court defense. They can’t easily load up on Carey and Klay Thompson in transition. Davis can’t protect the frame so easily.
But part of this attack Green must be involved. Undoubtedly, part of his frustration came from the money he left on the table. It was 3-for-9 from the field. He missed some passes he should have made. More than that, overall, he didn’t make the Lakers pay the price for his undoing. He knew it was coming. This is what the Lakers did during the regular season when they faced them. This is what most teams do. But Green, who averaged 13.7 points in his three wins against the Kings, hasn’t taken the pressure off his guards.
The Lakers play Curry and Thompson—both defending with their backs to the 3-point line, turning them into a shooting block down the middle—to try and limit their looks from the 3. This defense leaves openings, but the other players have to take them. Green and Andrew Wiggins are best positioned for that, but they combined to make 9 of 23 shots. Their 21 points were completely nullified by Dennis Schroeder’s 19.
Furthermore, Green Davis’ aggressiveness forces defense. Even if Davis does manage to thwart Green, it’s still important in the grand scheme that Davis work on defense. If he’s standing in the paint, resting, while the Warriors are too passive to challenge him, that helps keep him fresh. Green, if he’s on the field, he has to attack, he has to be kind of threatening. He knows this.
One way you can expect the Warriors to handle it is to make Green a big one and run a game of Pick-and-Roll with Curry and Green. This forces Davis to get out of the paint and help out. Because if he stays back in the paint, it gives Curry a steady diet of 3 looks. That’s why the game turned when the Warriors got small with a big guy in the fourth quarter. Curry faded with the pick and roll, and Davis, who sketchily wanted to stay in the paint, didn’t come out on Curry well enough. The Warriors almost stole a game that the Lakers dominated. It would be smart to expect more of that from the Warriors.
The latest series highlighted Kevon Looney’s supremacy and ability to be the big guy, a revelation that began in the 2022 NBA Finals when Green confronted his struggles. Against the Kings in the first round, the Warriors were fine with Looney and four players from the perimeter. They certainly feel good about Looney in this role against the Lakers.
But this series highlights the value Green has brought to the Warriors for years. Because you can put it on Davis and also get the above benefits. While Green has had playoff success defending Davis in the past (in 2015 and 2018), he didn’t match up with Davis much in the first game. Not until the fourth quarter. Davis was 0-3 against Green in the fourth inning, all attempts at paint. The Warriors are willing to concede midfield to Davis. But when he does post, Green is better at getting a good contest.
Green said, “I think when you’re guarding a player like Al. It’s a team effort. But as far as the game goes, you have to clear that head. And I don’t think we did a great job that night. Like I said, it starts with me.”
So if there’s a way to get Davis to run while also getting him and the Lakers to run, it’s Green.
This is what Green does. What he did for years. Why does he go to the Hall of Fame? It’s the opposing team’s dilemma – a small forward making the play and a small ball center, anchoring the defense, all while breathing fire into the team. This is the player they need in this series. This is the player who knows he didn’t make it to the Warriors on Tuesday. And the player who seemed determined to be in the second game.
“Oh yeah,” Wiggins said. “And I think it will be.”
Go deeper
Jordan Paul and other Warriors bright spots in the first game loss
(Top photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)