Well, you knew it was coming.
After drawing the ire of ... let's see (checks notes) ... all of New England for his Game 2 antics that helped the Warriors gain a split of the NBA Finals, a meeting of the minds was going to happen on Wednesday night at TD Garden between Draymond Green and 19,156 of his closest friends in green.
Advantage: Celtics fans, who are old pros at this.
By the time Green had fouled out of the game, he had made one field goal, grabbed four rebounds and totaled just two points as the Warriors largely laid a dud in their 116-100 loss on Causeway Street.
It might have been worse after the game in the press conferences as Green, Steve Kerr and other Warriors clearly showed that Celtics fans had gotten into their heads with some of their colorful chants.
"We've played in front of rude people before," said Klay Thompson. "Dropping f-bombs with children in the crowd. Real classy. Good job, Boston."
"On the crowd's response to Draymond? Classy. Very classy," said Kerr.
Ok then.
Green knew exactly what to expect, but still admitted to playing like "(expletive)."
"They just talking. Not really my job to react to them. They did what I expected," he said.
"I embrace it. I enjoy it. I didn't really feed off of it tonight. I don't think I fed off much tonight. ... I was soft. That's what was most disappointing to me, for us."
Green went on to target one reporter in particular for asking about him possibly giving away some state defensive secrets on his podcast. Green just wouldn't let it go:
That's just contesting shots. If that's X's and O's, you're reaching for something. It's all good, though, keep going. [Laughing].
The only thing, you find that they are taking X's and O's away from your Podcast? Well, the only thing you said is White, Smart and Horford. Hmm.
You went for it. Appreciate the Podcast promo you just gave me, though. The Draymond Green Show. Next time just mention it that way.
Monty, how much X's and O's you get from the Podcast? Maybe that's the IQ level. I'm sorry, you got something else?
I thought we let them get to too many of their strengths. You know, we like to play by the term "making them play left-handed," and I don't think we did that tonight.
So (reporter) Jake Fisher, just an FYI, that's a reference to something, making somebody play left-handed. That's not really like X's and O's, like literally make them drive theft. But we like to make teams play left-handed. And we didn't do that tonight, and that starts with me.
Now trailing 2-1 in the series, the Warriors face almost a must-win in Game 4. Even heading back home for Game 5, a potential 3-1 series deficit appears too much for Golden State to overcome — even with Thompson showing signs of life with 25 points, including five 3-pointers. The Warriors appear to be worn down by the Celtics' defense, which received a big boost from Robert Williams' 25 minutes. The Warriors briefly took the lead in a 33-point third quarter, but scored just 11 in the final stanza.
"I thought we got them moving," Green said. "We got them scattered. Defensively we were swarming. We were all over the place, and we took away what they were trying to do. Why we didn't sustain it, I don't know I have to go back and watch the film and see where we let go of the rope at. I'm sure there are some things we'll look back at and take away from it and make sure we bring it to Friday's game."
Kerr said the Warriors have to be better on the glass on Friday. The Celtics had 15 offensive rebounds and 22 second-chance points.
"Yeah, I thought the offensive rebounds were just a killer, yeah," he said. "I think they had like 20-something second-chance points. That was really the difference in the game. We made several stops, especially in the second half where we had a chance to cut into the lead or make a little push, and they got offensive boards. Those were tough."
Boston had 52 points in the paint, a place where Green is usually a heavy contributor.
"He's one of our best players, obviously, a championship player. We rely on him for his energy and his brain," Kerrr said. "Like I said, he'll bounce back. He always does. You know, tough night for all of us. I mean, we just couldn't get it going."
And you know Celtics fans will be there, again, waiting for Green.
"I have all the confidence in the world in Draymond Green," Thompson 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 and with Andre and our young bucks, I really think we're going to have a great night Friday night."
