Draymond Green Derails Celtics in Game 2 as Warriors Explode for 107-88 Win

SAN FRANCISCO — Draymond Green decided to test the line early. Jayson Tatum hit a three as the Celtics rolled ahead 13-5 on a pair of Tatum threes. Green tried to counteract Tatum’s penetration with help in the lane, but Tatum made the right reads like in Game 1 and even got off-ball for a cutting finish. The game took on a similar early feel to the first in the series, minus Steph Curry raining from deep.

So Green stuck his chest into Tatum during a Golden State in-bounds following his own missed free throw. Tatum reacted and fouled. The Warriors found a way to stick around by entering the mud.

“It’s the NBA Finals. Like I said, I wear my badge of honor. It’s not that I’m saying they necessarily treat me different. I’ve earned differential treatment. I enjoy that. I embrace that,” Green said post-game to ESPN.

Green pushed further, as he switched onto Jaylen Brown amid a 3-for-5 start forcing an air ball and tipping the ball from his hands out-of-bounds on another play. Green plowed through Grant Williams and drew a foul, seeking more as he tussled for the ball. The officials cut Green off, handing him a technical foul, Brown hitting the free throw and drilling a three to extend Boston’s lead back to nine points.

The referees chose not to do the same late in the second quarter, when Green collided with Brown and the pair went stumbling to the floor. Green’s feet fell over Brown’s head and remained there for a moment before Brown shoved them off and stood over Green. A situation that typically would end in a double technical and would’ve led to Green’s ejection didn’t. It went to video review and no further action got taken beyond the shooting foul, Brown tying the game 50-50 at the line.

Sour grapes, perhaps, in a 107-88 blowout win for the Warriors where Golden State pummeled the Celtics 25-2 through their lackluster finish to the third quarter and went ahead by 29 points — but moving the line for Green allowed him to push beyond it into the second half and left the Celtics lost over how to respond and disheveled. The Warriors tied the series 1-1, effectively securing victory by the end of the third quarter in a game they led by two points entering halftime.

“That whole first half, it was definitely different,” Al Horford said on the officiating. “We knew that it was going to be different, but we kind of wanted to just stay the course. It is what it is. On to Game 3.”

Bigger issues certainly exist for the Celtics, as offensive stagnancy and turnovers returned in droves, handing the Warriors a 33-8 advantage in points following turnovers before Boston emptied its bench early in the fourth quarter. The Celtics rode an 8-for-13 start on contested threes, Golden State’s intensity ratcheted up defensively behind Green’s amorphous defensive role. Klay Thompson guarded Al Horford and drew Boston into post-ups, Green helped shut off Brown for a 1-for-11 finish after his hot start and Gary Payton II’s return made the Warriors more adaptable defensively than Andre Iguodala (DNP-Knee) allowed them to be in Game 1. Defensive adjustments by Golden State and turnovers hurt the Celtics as much as Green’s antics.

“(Green’s) one player,”  Ime Udoka said post-game. “You can only guard one person at a time, so we had 11 turnovers for 18 points in the first half and they had nine steals so playing in the crowd way too much.  He’s going to switch matchups a lot of times and try to impact the ball defensively especially, but we weren’t strong with the ball overall, so it wasn’t just him. Of course, he’s going to come out and try to set the tone but I think we weren’t strong with the ball a lot, searching for fouls instead of going up and making plays, especially with their lack of rim protection. So for us, that was a little disappointing to give up 33 points off of 19 turnovers, and that’s kind of been a constant theme in the playoffs — when that happens, we’re in trouble.”

Brown called Green’s rested legs an illegal play. Rules expert Steve Javie on ESPN said Green already having one technical and facing possible ejection could come into play in handling that situation. Udoka was not surprised Green didn’t get ejected on the play, given the circumstances.

Derrick White started the frame continuing Boston’s momentum from their first win and quarter of Game 2. He stuffed Jordan Poole inside, who also got stopped by Daniel Theis. Robert Williams III blocked Andrew Wiggins on a second chance try, before White shut off Curry on one end and forced him to defer to Thompson on a driving miss. White drilled a three at the other end to push Boston ahead 40-35.

The Warriors exited timeout with a small ball lineup built around Otto Porter Jr. and Payton II, who received a massive standing ovation when he entered in the first quarter, his first minutes since Game 2 against Memphis. Tatum turned the ball over immediately, letting Curry run the other way to score before three shots from Brown and Smart didn’t fall, freeing Payton and Wiggins to score go-ahead baskets on the run.

Tatum and White answered with threes, the long ball buoying an uneven performance from Tatum, who also saw Green guard him defensively and finished 8-for-19 (2-for-10 2PT). Then, Brown drew a hard contest from Green trailing by two points with one minute remaining before halftime, Green falling on top of Brown.

“I felt like they could’ve called it,” Brown said. “But they let it go in terms of a technical either way. I don’t know what I was supposed to do there, somebody got their legs on top of your head. Then he tried to pull my pants down, I don’t know what that was about, but that’s what Draymond Green does. He’ll do whatever it takes to win. He’ll pull you, he’ll grab you, he’ll try to muck the game up, because that’s what he does for their team. It’s nothing to be surprised about, nothing I’m surprised about. He raised his physicality to try to stop us and we’ve got to raise ours. Looking forward to the challenge.”

The Celtics only trailed by two points at halftime, but 8-for-13 shooting on contested threes showed Golden State’s ramped-up defensive effort to cut off Boston’s perimeter players and the Celtics’ fortune to that point. Udoka saw Boston settling with chances to go to the rim, and the defensive breakdowns started early and often. Wiggins broke free for a put back after the Warriors distracted the Celtics calling for a down screen when the play actually went high to Curry above the break. Kevon Looney caught an in-bounds pass to score uncontested at the rim.

After consecutive threes by Thompson and Curry to go ahead by eight, Green rotated inside to stop one of Horford’s post-ups and fell on top of him under the baseline, laying there an extra moment before getting up and leaving Horford behind. Later, midway through the fourth, Green walked away from Grant Williams after they got wrapped up past half court, audibly calling Williams a bozo on the ESPN telecast. After Green bodied Brown and tipped the ball away from him, Udoka walked toward Joshua Tiven, the official, and earned a technical foul.