The Warriors’ unassailable version of basketball starts with Steph Curry making origami out of the game’s standard conventions, but there’s also Draymond Green, doing stuff like this:
In terms of flamboyancy, this possession isn’t even in the same universe as Curry pulling up to drain a three from 28 feet, but it has just as much to do with what makes the Warriors so dominant. What you’re looking at there is Green shutting down one of the quickest point guards in the league before switching onto power forward Al-Farouq Aminu and smothering his shot at the rim. That’s one guy singlehandedly throttling an entire offensive set, and it’s something Green did over and over again during yesterday’s rout of the Blazers.
He finished the game with a 23-11-13 triple-double to go along with three blocks, and the Warriors were +24 when he was on the court. Green has games like this all the time, of course, but I had a lot of fun watching him do his thing without Curry on the court. Curry can swallow a game whole by bombing away from deep and crossing people into the ground, but when he’s on the bench it’s Green that I can’t take my eyes off of. Last night, there were no 28-footers to overshadow moments like this one:
This isn’t to say the Warriors are better or more fun without Curry on the floor; it’s just nice to see Green be the center of gravity for a little bit. Curry will be back soon enough, and Green will be a good enough reason to tune into the Warriors’ blowouts until then.