The silence told you everything you needed to know. If history is any indicator, Draymond Green all but sent the Warriors to the second round of the Western Conference playoffs on Thursday.
Sure, Thursday night’s matchup between Golden State and the Denver Nuggets was only Game 3. But NBA teams who take a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven series are 143-0 all-time.
The tense Mile High affair was sealed on a key one-on-one possession with about 35 seconds left. The Nuggets emerged from a timeout down five points and it’s no surprise they ran a play for soon-to-be back-to-back MVP Nikola Jokic.
The 6-11, 285-pound Jokic sized up the 6-foot-6, 230-pound Green and tried to back him down. Draymond stood his ground as the other eight players moved to the other side of the floor. Iso. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. Exactly where Draymond wanted to be.
With a precisely-timed swipe, Green stripped Jokic of any chance to mount a comeback. He snatched the ball and, in essence, the series for the Warriors. The lead stayed at five as Golden State claimed a 118-113 win.
Making the play even more remarkable? Green picked up his fifth foul with 3:58 remaining and didn’t head to the bench. He battled Jokic and stayed foul-free in the clutchest of situations.
“That’s money time,” Green said. “That’s when you gotta dig deep. You can’t play defense the last four minutes of the game worried about fouling out. If I do that, I’m doing my team a disservice. For me, it’s business as usual. … If I get one down the stretch and I foul out with two minutes to go, I gave it all I had. But I can’t start playing timid because I picked up a fifth foul.”
Draymond is renowned for his basketball IQ and he provided some insight to his in-game thinking for the crucial sequence.
On Jokic’s first dribble, Green said he felt like he had solid inside position. On Jokic’s second dribble, Draymond noticed that the ball was far away from Jokic’s body. Green told himself he could maintain good defensive position but “stab” at the ball if Jokic put it on the floor again.
The third dribble didn’t make it back to Jokic’s hand.
“I just went for it and I was able to get my hand on it,” Green said.
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Draymond’s big play came on a night when Jokic displayed his nearly unguardable offensive game. He can stroke it from 3-point land, bruise you in the paint, pick apart your defense with passes, has a plethora of post moves and incredible touch.
Jokic finished with 37 points, 18 rebounds and five assists in a Herculean effort.
“I think what I did well the first couple games (of the series) is I made him score over me, I made him have to go through me,” Green said. “This game I didn’t do a very good job of that. I was very soft today.”
But Jokic also had five turnovers, including Green’s fateful steal.
That play in that moment against a foe of Jokic's caliber? Warriors coach Steve Kerr said it’s hard to compare Green to anyone. He's a winner and arguably one of the greatest defenders to ever play the game.
“(Dennis) Rodman. Ben Wallace,” Kerr said. “But different – I mean, Draymond had 10 assists tonight. I think he is their equal defensively, but he’s also a distributor and a passer and kind of a point center. An incredibly unique player.”
Draymond finished with six points, 10 assists, five rebounds, two steals and a block. All he cares about is 89 – as in his 89th career playoff win. Green and Klay Thompson’s .701 win percentage (89-38) in the playoffs is the best for any player with at least 100 postseason appearances.
The Warriors can clinch the series sweep with one more win on Sunday, but you know they’re thinking about 13 more victories and a fourth title for this dynasty.
“There’s no better feeling,” Green said of silencing the Denver crowd. “It’s hard to duplicate that feeling, that rush that it gives you. I enjoy these type of environments. I enjoy the boos, I enjoy everything that comes with it. I always say, the real ones, they show up on the road.”
