The New Media never sleeps.
If you thought the grind of another NBA Finals run would halt production of Draymond Green's podcast, you were wrong. The outspoken veteran Warriors forward published a new episode of "The Draymond Green Show" Friday breaking down his thoughts on Golden State's brutal 120-108 loss to the Boston Celtics.
The Warriors carried a 12-point lead into the fourth quarter before the Celtics went 9-of-12 from 3-point land in the fourth to complete a 40-16 run in the period and claim the 12-point win. Like he said in his postgame press conference, Green said it came down to Boston's role players knocking down their threes. Green said the Warriors "have to live with that."
"This was the story of the game, by the way. Al Horford and Marcus Smart and Derrick White combined for 15-for-23 from three," Green said. "Al Horford's been shooting the lights out all playoffs, Marcus Smart has been shooting the ball extremely well in the playoffs too. Derrick White hadn't shot the ball from three extremely throughout the playoffs nor throughout his career. But we do know that he's capable. Obviously, the world knows he's capable after seeing last night. We been knew he was capable, but some of the threes he hit last night? I think three of the five threes he made right over with people in his face. When things like that happen, you have to live with that. Somebody has to beat you. You're going to pick in an NBA game what is more likely to not beat you. You know Jayson Tatum can beat you. You know Jaylen Brown can beat you."
Tatum finished with 12 points on 3-of-17 shooting, but he dished out 13 assists. Boston's bench ultimately came through clutch instead of the stars, as Payton Pritchard also hit a couple big threes.
"I leave that game saying, 'We stopped the guys that we needed to stop," Green said. "Continue to keep playing defense on their guys, but stop the guys that we needed to stop. They won't combine 15-of-23 from three again.' So you take that out the game, make a couple tweaks on the offensive end and we're right back in business. I don't make too much of the loss. Obviously, you're down 1-0 at home. I don't think it's time to press the panic button. At the end of the day, it's the first to four not the first to one."
On the other side of the ball, Green said Boston's switch-heavy defense threw the Warriors out of rhythm.
"For the most part offensively, we need to ensure that we don't get stagnant," Green said. "At times when you are facing a defense that is switching a lot, they switch, they switch, they switch and you can tend to slow down. Once you slow down and you stop and you stop cutting, then the offense just kinda stalls. That was I think the main turnover on the offensive end."
Green also said that the Warriors have a thin margin for error against such a talented team in the Finals.
"Fourteen turnovers for 23 points?" Green said. "This team reminds me a lot of the Spurs back in the old – I don't wanna say old days – but the Spurs teams of the past, where they don't make a ton of mistakes. Because they don't make a ton of mistakes, they're going to make you beat them."
