Inside the mind of Warriors defensive stopper Draymond Green
When those final seconds of a close game are ticking away and the Golden State Warriors need a stop, there’s no time for Draymond Green to talk about playing dominant defense.
He just does it.
Size up the elite scorer who’s coming your way. Remember his tendencies. Take the right angle. Pick the smartest plan. Use time and score to calculate the best and worst case scenarios. Then, execute.
For Green and every other elite defender in the NBA, there’s an art to these hectic moments that gets lost unless you slow down to appreciate it. That's exactly what Green did in a recent interview with USA TODAY Sports.
Not only did Green explain why he believes he should win the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award over Utah big man Rudy Gobert and San Antonio's back-to-back winner Kawhi Leonard, but he dissected a handful of game-saving plays that have made his season so unique. Welcome, in other words, inside the mind of one of the game’s best defenders.
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1. November 19th at Milwaukee: Warriors win 124-121
Highlight: With 10.1 seconds left and Golden State up two points, Green has the unenviable task of guarding the Bucks’ do-everything big man, Giannis Antetokounmpo. Milwaukee’s Tony Snell lobs the inbounds pass from the left into Antetokounmpo on the nearby block, but Green’s bump-and-jump over one of the league’s longest players leads to a turnover as he tips the pass away and Klay Thompson recovers.
Video: Green's game-saving steal
Draymond’s view: “Honestly, I knew that at that point we were up two. I know that they're going to him. So I want the challenge of defending him. And you know, the way they entered the ball to him, once you throw a live ball like that, I've got just as free range at the ball as he does. And if I can just get a hand on the ball, it changes - it breaks the rhythm of their play. So even if I don't come up with the steal, it can break the rhythm of what they're trying to do. And then all of a sudden, it turns into iso one-on-one, me and him, and you I've got to bear down and get a stop. But I also know going into that, we're up two points so even if they do call a foul, he has to go to the free throw line and make two free throws.
“I don't know his free-throw percentage. I think he's somewhere in the 70s (it’s 77.8%), but when you've got to go knock two down, and you're down two, with the game on the line, it's a little bit of a different type of pressure. I know going into this (that) I'm going to be aggressive and try to get a stop. Worst come to worst, they get a foul and we've got, at this point, three of the best scorers in the world (Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and Thompson) to try and go get a bucket.”
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2-3. November 28 in Oakland: Warriors win over Atlanta, 105–100
Highlight: With 46 seconds left and the Warriors up four, Hawks point guard Dennis Schroder decides to go straight at Green from the left wing. It’s an unfair fight, with the 6-foot-2 Schroder getting smothered by the 6-7 Green on his way to the rim. As Schroder falls on his back to the floor, the ball bounces off him and out of bounds.
Video:Green's stuff in the final minute vs. the Hawks
Draymond’s view on the Schroder play: “With him, you've got to take away Dennis' right hand. So with him, he faked like he was going right. I took away the right, and he went left. Now at that point, it's just about meeting him at the rim. If I can get the angle to meet him at the rim, which I did - I couldn't cut him all the way off, but I was close enough to where he just couldn't get a layup. And he's a right hand dominant player, so you know he's going to bring the ball back to you. So opposed to just trying to block the shot, I kind of just stayed vertical and know that he's going to bring the ball to me. And once he brought it to me, then I blocked it.
But the most fun part about that play is not only blocking the shot, (it's) the ball hitting him and going out of bounds. It's a slap in the face, literally, so I'd say that was the best part about that play, that it actually hit him and went out.”
Highlight: With 19 seconds left and the Warriors still up four points, Hawks wingman Kent Bazemore takes an inbounds pass up high on the left side and drives right past Curry and a swiping Durant. He’s not in the clear, though, as Green meets him at the rim. A textbook vertical leap and a right-hand block ends Atlanta’s final threat.
Video: Green's block leads to late turnover
On Bazemore block: “I was surprised that he would try to drive me. Me and Kent came in this league together. He knows who I am as a player. I know who he is as a player. So you know Kent wants to get to his left hand. When he drove at me like that though, it did shock me. But once again, he's probably going to the left hand in that situation and that's another play where you just try to stay vertical and let the guy bring the ball to you. At the end of the day, the worst that's going to happen is you make him take a tough shot. But once they bring the ball to you, you can kind of get a block, so I was able to get the block as well.”
4. December 13 in New Orleans: Warriors win, 113–109, over the Pelicans
Highlight: With eight seconds left and the Warriors up two, one of the game’s most lethal scorers, Anthony Davis, gets the post pass on the left from Pelicans point guard Jrue Holiday. But as Davis deliberates his next move and begins to face up for the attack, Green throws a right-handed hook of sorts at the ball that forces the fumble, NFL style. Green pounces on the loose ball, Davis fumes at the officials, and the Warriors win.
Video: Green's deflection seals win for Warriors
Draymond’s view: “Once again, we're up two, three seconds to go. His move on that side is that he opens up with his right foot and then he sweeps back baseline to his left hand. So I knew at that point that that's what he was going to. It's money time, (and) he's trying to get back to that left hand. So as soon as he opened up, I just took a stab at the ball, and I was able to get my hand on the ball.
“It's an amazing feeling, to know that, 'Hey, we pretty much just won this game off a defensive stop, and to come up with the ball,’ when you're playing against a guy like Anthony Davis. You know he scores. That's what he does."
5. March 14 in Oakland: Warriors win over Philadelphia 106–104
Highlight: with 48 seconds left and the Warriors having turned a 16-point, third-quarter deficit into a three-point lead, Green is isolated against Sixers point guard T.J. McConnell near the top of the key. The 6-2 McConnell drives right, but Green stays with him stride for stride to the rim and swats his layup attempt for his sixth block of the night. The Warriors, who needed one more stop and a smart foul of Dario Saric by Green in the closing seconds to seal the win, held the Sixers to 14 fourth quarter points.
Video: Green swats late-game lay-up attempt
Draymond’s view: “You just know in a game like that, where we were kind of a in a rut, first-off. We were just getting back home, coming off what had been a super tough stretch. And I just knew that, in order for us to win that game, it would have to be defensively. Like, it's not going to be pretty. The shots just aren't going to fall like we're used to them falling. The game just doesn't work like that. Like, you don't just come out of a rut - you're in a rut and all of a sudden you hit 20 threes. It just don't work like that. Sometimes you just have to go get it, and it's going to be ugly. Now, you've got to find a way to do it, and usually that's on the defensive side of the ball. So I knew it, and I told the guys, 'Hey, we're going to have to get this done defensively.'
“It kind of came down to - we were up a couple points and needed to get a stop. T.J. McConnell, I switched onto him. I knew he was going to drive me, and I always tell the guys, like 'Stay home.' I'll just meet a guy at the rim. And once he drove, I knew he was going to lay it up - or try to lay it up - and he had nowhere to go.”
Follow USA TODAY Sports' Sam Amick on Twitter @Sam_Amick.