Draymond Green heard at least two variations of chants involving his name Wednesday night in Boston and neither were family friendly.
The PG version? “Dray-mond sucks! Dray-mond sucks!”
The rated R version that reverberated around TD Garden? “F–k you Dray-mond! F–k you, Draymond!”
The Warriors veteran forward knew he’d get a warm welcome from the Boston crowd with the way he instigated the Celtics in Golden State’s Game 2 victory in the NBA Finals. The Celtics crowd chided Green all night until he eventually fouled out with about four minutes left, as the Warriors faded with a miserable fourth quarter in a 116-100 loss.
“They just talking,” Green said. “It’s not really my job to react to them. They did what I expected.”
Usually, Green thrives in a villain role. He played the heel for Memphis fans during the Grizzlies series in the Western Conference semifinals. Wednesday night was a different story.
“I embrace it. I enjoy it,” Green said. “I didn't really feed off of it tonight. I don't think I fed off much tonight.”
The Dubs often go as Green goes. In Game 1, he was a step slow on defense and the Celtics made the Warriors pay. In Game 2, he ramped up the intensity and set the tone for a Warriors’ drubbing. On Wednesday night, Green played his worst game of the postseason. He scored two points with four rebounds and three assists and two turnovers in 35 minutes, where he was essentially a non-factor.
A reporter couldn’t even finish asking Draymond to assess his performance before the outspoken forward answered the question.
“Like s–t,” Green said, bluntly.
The first quarter, Green was particularly ghostly, as he logged a turnover, a block and a missed field goal in 8:18 of action. By the end of the game, he posted a minus-13 and was the lowest-scoring starter in the box score.
“I was soft,” Green said. “That's what was most disappointing to me, for us.”
Green had no qualms about picking up his sixth foul, though. With about four minutes left, bodies were flying all over the floor going for a loose ball and Draymond saw Steph Curry in distress.
"I saw him getting dove on and that was about that," Green said. "So I picked up my foul pushing off him because he's screaming at the bottom of the pile. Yeah, it is what it is. I'll take the foul. I'm going to get him off his legs, though. It's all good."
Afterwards, Draymond had a very animated stare down with referee Courtney Kirkland.
Kerr was confident Draymond would respond after the rocky Game 1 and he did. The Warriors would love to see Playoff Draymond – the triple-double threat – return in Game 4.
The Warriors will ride with Draymond.
“I trust Draymond as much as I trust anybody,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “You know, he always bounces back from losses and from tough nights individually. He'll be back on Friday.”
Klay Thompson said he’s not worried about Draymond one bit.
“I have all the confidence in the world in Draymond Green,” Klay said. “I consider him a brother, and we've played at the mountaintop together and played in big, big battles. As long as I see him and 30 (Steph Curry) and with Andre (Iguodala) and our young bucks, I really think we're going to have a great night Friday night.”
