At some point in his life, Draymond Green has probably grabbed someone’s hands, thrust them into that person’s face, and repeated “stop hitting yourself” over and over. For all we know, he did it to Jonathan Kuminga on the team bus.
Green, among his many attributes, is an irritant, boundary pusher, a -- as was so eloquently put by the late Charlie Murphy when describing Rick James -- habitual line-stepper.
“That's part of our scouting report going into it,” Ime Udoka said. “Whether it's Patrick Beverley or whoever the case may be, we always highlight a few things about guys. Everybody knows that going in.”
In Game 2, Green came alive with physicality and focus on both ends. He also brought one of his favorite weapons: his mouth.
“There is an art to trash talking,” Green explained. “If you grew up in Saginaw, Michigan, it's naturally given to you. For me personally, growing up the way I did, you can't survive if you can't talk on the court. You go out there quiet if you want to. You play as good as you want. If you're quiet, they're going to think you're soft. They're going to try to bully you. That's just kind of the way I learned.”
The purpose of Green’s antics is always to antagonize to the point of distraction. It isn’t enough that Green can be a genius-level defender, he has to test the lines of legality to further press his advantage, constantly yapping along the way. Every once in a while, it costs him a technical foul, but that only emboldens him because he knows a second tech (and an ejection) will be harder to earn.
“Don't get caught up in that. Just do what we do best. We ain't got time for that,” said Jaylen Brown, the latest in a long line of players to find himself in some level of standoff with Green. “Just come out and play basketball, let everything else take care of itself. I'm going to come out, do my job. Everybody needs to come out and do their job. We're here to play basketball, so don't get caught up in all the antics and stuff like that. Just come out and play.”
Easier said than done, which is why I used the “stop hitting yourself” analogy. The more you ignore, the more Green wants to force the issue. Like he said, the quiet ones get bullied where he comes from. Sometimes that energy has to be matched.
“I say be who you are,” Udoka said. “If you want to ignore it, ignore it. If you engage, engage. Do what you do. Be who you are. The main thing is to continue to stay composed.”
Composed trash talking may seem like an oxymoron but some people are just right at home when they're getting into it with other players. Two of the best ever with that quality played here in Boston: Kevin Garnett and Larry Bird.
The Celtics don’t have that level of talent and talk on the team, but they can still find ways to keep their wits about them while managing the madness hurled at them from the other side of the court.
And they’ll have to, because while Green is talking, he’s also screening, passing, and defending at a level high-enough to be a difference-maker for the Warriors.
“I don't think it's the talking as much as the physicality that they brought. That was noticeable at times,” Udoka said. “We know obviously that's what Green does. Kind of bleeds over into the team. For us it's to be who you are. I told them if I was a player, who I was, I would probably get a double technical immediately. But that's not everybody. Do what you do. Block it out or meet physicality with physicality.”
Once again, it’s the coach’s mentality that has to seep into the players’ minds when it comes to Green. “Be who you are” is the most important message the team can get because Green’s number one goal with all of the stuff he pulls is to make people act differently than normal.
Getting tangled up with Brown, pulling at his shorts, and saying whatever he said was part of an effort to get Brown to play and act differently than normal. He might do something similar tonight with someone else, with the same purpose.
“Be who you are” is the key to avoiding the pitfalls of what Green is trying to accomplish. He’s from Saginaw, but he’s the team’s flint; the spark that lights a fire under the rest of the guys, and he’s hoping to burn opponents in the process.
“When their team is struggling, he sets the tone for them. That's one of the ways he does it,” Udoka said. “We embrace that. One of the best defensive teams, we like to impose our will as well. Have to meet that with the same thing.”
