Getty Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green defends Boston Celtics big man Al Horford during the 2022 NBA Finals.
With the Boston Celtics having ceded Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals to the Miami Heat amid a shockingly uninspired effort on Monday, we’re officially heading into the 2023 NBA Finals with a fresh pair of teams. Meanwhile, Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green is over the moon about the ECF result.
Although the four-time All-Star would probably prefer to be in the Finals himself right now, the fact that the Celtics won’t be there is apparently Green’s ultimate consolation prize.
“Boston Celtics fans will make excuses and I ain’t hearing none of that because y’all are rude and I’m happy y’all lost,” Green declared on the latest episode of his podcast. “Not happy [Jayson Tatum] lost but Boston Celtics fans — especially those of you that are in that arena — I’m happy y’all lost.
“Because … like stop being who you are … Like, stop being the way y’all are … At some point, you just can’t be that way.”
There’s No Love Lost Between the Warriors’ Draymond Green & Celtics Fans
Green has more reason than most to be rooting against the Celtics — or, more specifically, their fans. In a November interview with Complex, the baller alleged that there were people in the TD Garden crowd who hurled racial slurs in his direction during the 2022 Finals between Golden State and Boston.
Going beyond his personal history with the team and its supporters, though, Green made it clear that he simply wasn’t a believer in the Celtics this postseason.
“The Boston Celtics are who we thought they were,” Green opioned. “They got to the moment and they did not look like they were ready for the moment. All of a sudden, all the shots were short again. All of a sudden, they looked like they couldn’t play basketball with their left hand again. All of a sudden, they looked like exactly who we thought they were.
“So, let’s think about this. Like, if you think back through the series, every game that mattered … they actually lost. And, quite frankly, they won [Game 6] on like a garbage buzzer-beater at the last second. Giving Derrick White credit, like, he made the play. That’s how the cookie crumbles sometimes. But, like … they gave that game away.”
Over the final two games of the Heat-Celtics affair, the Beantowners shot 16-for-77 from three-point range.
B/R: Green’s ‘Portability’ Could Be an Issue as Player Option Looms
While he’ll earn more than $27.5 million next season if he ends up exercising the player option on his contract for 2023-24, there’s at least a chance that Green has already played his last game as a member of the gold and blue crew.
If he does decide to test the free agent waters, though, Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey wonders whether he’ll have the same kind of impact in a different situation, questioning Green’s “portability” to other teams.
Wrote Bailey:
Draymond Green checks so many boxes. His versatile, tough-minded defense and rebounding should all travel well (assuming he travels at all). But he’s also spent his entire career with the greatest shooter of all time and another player who’s probably top five on that list. By merely being on the floor, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson give Green an amount of operating space that he almost certainly wouldn’t get anywhere else. What happens to his playmaking in a different situation?
