Ryan: Draymond Green’s dismissive comments did little to assuage Warriors’ woes following Celtics back-breaking rally in Game 1

If you were expecting anything other than outright defiance — and a bit of feigned indifference — from Draymond Green in the aftermath of the Celtics’ improbable comeback in Game 1 of the NBA Finals … well, then you haven’t been watching Green and the Warriors all that much over the past decade. 

Of course, some of the most obstinate individuals who have ever stepped onto the hardwood likely wouldn’t have had a whole lot to say on a night in which the Celtics turned a 15-point deficit in the third quarter into a double-digit triumph. 

Sure, you can shrug your shoulders and gloss over Boston’s late-game rally in enemy territory with the good ol’ “that’s basketball” cliche. 

But when you’re on the wrong end of the scoreboard for the largest fourth-quarter point differential in a Finals game all-time … well, a shrug can only do so much to ease the pain from such a thorough beatdown. 

So instead, Green strode up to the podium following Boston’s 120-108 victory at Chase Center and did whatever he could to pour some water on the scorching salvos that the C's fired off in the fourth quarter. 

“I don't think it was a rhythm thing," Green said. "We pretty much dominated the game for the first 41, 42 minutes. So we'll be fine. … They hit 21 threes, and Marcus Smart and Al Horford and Derrick White combined for 15 of them. 

“The guys are good shooters, but they combined for, what, 15 out of 8; Smart, 7, 8, 15-for-23. My math right? 8, 7 and 8. Yeah, that's 23, right. Yeah, 15-for-23 from those guys … eh, you know, so, we'll be fine.”

Green does have a point. No, the Celtics are likely not going to get 15 3-pointers from the likes of Smart, Horford and White, night in and night out, for the remainder of this series. 

But it’s also a pretty safe bet that the Celtics are also not going to have Jayson Tatum — their tried-and-true conduit of offense all year — hit just three of his 17 shot attempts every single game as well. 

Some impressive shooting beyond the arc absolutely buoyed Boston on the way to stealing a victory out in San Francisco, but the C’s also managed to stun an experienced, stout Warriors team without having to rely on their best player to work his magic in the fourth quarter.

Of those 40 points that the Celtics recorded in the fourth, a whopping zero came off of shots taken by Tatum. 

That’s a stat that should further embolden Ime Udoka and the Celtics with Banner 18 within sight — and should terrify a Warriors team that let a potential laugher of a series-opening win slip through their fingers. 

After all, the Dubs seemed to have the Celtics right where they wanted them for most of the night — be it Tatum’s shooting woes, a 21-point deluge from Steph Curry in the opening quarter and a dominant third quarter for Golden State (38 points) that would have put most opposing teams on the ropes.

But not this Celtics team. 

“Been watching the playoffs all year, you kind of know that's their team,” Kevon Looney said of the Celtics. "They get punched in the mouth but they always stay around and they make runs and they might even lose the game and you think the series might have changed and then they come back and kind of win. They don't really get down you know on themselves. They always keep fighting and playing their style of basketball."

At this juncture of their respective careers, the Warriors’ core of Curry, Klay Thompson and Green has seen just about everything, especially under the bright lights of the postseason. The “Splash Bros” era and the game-augmenting shockwaves it has generated over the past decade have led to plenty of highs — and a couple of lows — for this group. 

They’ve engineered blowouts and survived nail-biters on the way to being coronated as NBA champions. They’ve been on the receiving end of a back-breaking block — and title-shattering trey — courtesy of the Cavs back in 2016.

But one thing they haven’t seen? A team with zero games of experience in the NBA Finals walking into their building and dropping 40 points on them in the fourth quarter.  

And for those keeping track, that stands as the most points by ANY team in the final 12 minutes of play in the NBA Finals since the 2008 Celtics clinched their 17th title with a 42-point coup de grace against the Lakers in Game 6. 

So yes, Green can continue to harp on “experience “and gloss over Boston’s triumph by pointing to who was sinking those shots in the fourth quarter. 

The Celtics are more than happy with letting their play on the court do the talking. 

“I'd say overrated in general,” Udoka said of experience. “Our young guys have had a lot of success so far getting to the Eastern Conference Finals multiple times.

So for us, try to simplify it, not overcomplicate it. Business as usual, basketball as usual. The things we did to be successful coming here, we'll try to do more of the same.”