The Cleveland Cavaliers pulled off one of the most impressive victories in the history of the NBA Finals Friday night against the Golden State Warriors. Down 0-3 and facing elimination on their home court, the Cavs set the Finals records for most points in a quarter (49 in the first), most points in a half (86 in the first half), and most made threes in a game. LeBron James also added on his own personal record of most triple-doubles in NBA Finals history with nine, passing Magic Johnson.
Now, with the Warriors up 3-1—the lead they blew in last year’s Finals—the jokes are back in full force. Draymond Green wasn’t too happy after Game Four, however, opting to take a shot at the Cavs fans when asked about the negative reception he received from the crowd.
“I don’t pay that much attention to anybody in Cleveland, honestly,” said Green. “They don’t seem to be the sharpest people around.”
Of course, Green’s just blowing smoke. He’s still upset that his team lost last season, and he really wanted to win in Cleveland as the ultimate middle finger to the Cavaliers.
“It would be very satisfying to do that,” said Green after Game Three. “Obviously we’ve won it here before. It’s a good feeling. We’re celebrating on their floor, celebrating in their locker room, quieting their crowd. As an athlete, one of the best feelings is going into an opponent’s and enemy territory and just silencing their crowd. You don’t want to prolong a series and give a team more and more confidence/ The opportunity is to win it here so you want to take advantage of that and try to close it out as soon as you can.”
That didn’t work out. I’m not sure that Green has much to worry about as the series shifts back to Oakland, but it seems unlikely at this point that the Warriors will be celebrating in the Cavs locker room again.
Green will find anything to hate though. There was a big debacle in Game Four as a technical foul on head coach Steve Kerr was announced as being. The record wasn’t corrected until later in the game when Green earned a tech of his own. The fans, those watching, and even the announcers thought that Green would be ejected for his second tech; however, the refs sorted everything out and finally got everyone on the same page.
Green wasn’t happy about that either.
“Yeah, they messed that one up bad,” said Green. “I don’t know. That was pretty bad.”
To him, the whole thing is flattering. Green believes the booing and chants of “Draymond Sucks” just confirm that Cleveland fans can’t get enough of him. They’re thinking about him while they watch, when the go home, while they sleep, and while they brush their teeth in the morning.
It just feeds his ego.
“Yeah, they make me feel good,” said Green. “They show me how important I am to them. They are at home thinking about me. If you come into the game chanting my name, you be at home thinking about me. So shout out to them for the love.”
Of course, calling the people that inspire you to get out of bed in the morning dull isn’t usually a good way to keep them happy. But, in this case, Draymond wants all the hate they can muster, and he sure will get it.
Even after the game when everyone had a good understanding of what happened with the technical foul situation, Draymond refused to make any sort of apology to the fans for insulting them. In fact, he doubled down on his words.
“I didn’t bash them. I just gave my thoughts. Well, they booed me, and they thought that I had a tech that I didn’t have, so that wasn’t sharp. I knew I didn’t so maybe I’m just a little sharper than others then, huh? I don’t know. But they played ‘Hit the Road, Jack,’ and I didn’t have to hit the road, so I didn’t think that was that sharp. I was looking at reality, and I know I wasn’t ejected.”
And, as if that weren’t enough, Green then went on to compliment himself, going off on a tangent about how smart and well-articulated he is.
“When I say something, I’ve thought about what I’m going to say before I say it,” continued Green. “No, I never look at something and say, ‘Man, I shouldn’t have said that,’ because I’m a lot smarter than people think.”
Now that Zaza Pachulia is the one kicking people in the balls I guess Draymond needs to find another way to stay in the public’s eye (and mouth) at all times.