Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green showed why he’s almost certainly charting a course to Springfield, Massachusetts, with his late-game heroics in a 101-98 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday.
Green only scored two points but finished with 11 rebounds, five assists and one block.
With the Grizzlies trailing by three points, Jaren Jackson Jr. had an opportunity to tie the game when he pulled up from beyond the arc. Green was there to disrupt the shot attempt.
From there, Stephen Curry hit a pair of free throws to give Golden State enough breathing room to see out the victory.
Naturally, Green’s defense on Jackson was an occasion to celebrate his wider contributions, which can go overlooked at times.
Praveen Alessio @praveenallessio
There aren’t even metrics to measure how good <a href=”https://twitter.com/Money23Green?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Money23Green</a> is. That defense is just insane <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBAPlayoffs?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#NBAPlayoffs</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/DubNation?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#DubNation</a>
Connor Maguire @overhypedconnor
<a href=”https://twitter.com/Money23Green?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Money23Green</a> is legitimately a first ballot hall of famer<br><br>-3x champ<br>-4x all star<br>-1x all nba 2nd<br>-1x all nba 3rd<br>-4x 1st all defense<br>-2x 2nd all defense<br>-1x dpoy<br>-1x szn steals leader <br>-2 olympic gold medals<br><br>this is the nba hill i’ll die on
Gaurav Misra @gauravmisra15
<a href=”https://twitter.com/Money23Green?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Money23Green</a> fighting over a screen and blocking a potentially game tying 3 pointer is the best representation of <a href=”https://twitter.com/warriors?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@warriors</a> basketball. Everyone talks about the shooting but their high IQ defense led by Draymond (and Iggy in the past) is what wins them championships.
T’Challa at ya boi!! @hustledetector
How many times have we seen <a href=”https://twitter.com/Money23Green?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Money23Green</a> make the HUGE steal or block at the end of the game FTW in the post season.? That’s already twice through two rounds…and counting. <a href=”https://t.co/IkKlhwwL5m”>https://t.co/IkKlhwwL5m</a>
Green isn’t quite the same player he was when the Warriors made five straight NBA Finals. In the regular season, he averaged 7.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and 7.0 assists and was limited to 46 games.
In the playoffs, though, Golden State has had a 15.0 net rating with him on the court, and the team’s defensive rating has risen by 9.3 points per 100 possessions when he’s on the bench, according to NBA.com.
The six-time All-Defensive standout is holding opponents to 40.2 percent shooting overall, 10.7 percent worse than their usual average. On three-pointers, opposing players are hitting just 27.3 percent of their shots with him as the primary defender.
Should the Warriors go on to win their seventh championship, Green will be a major reason why.
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