Draymond Green admits Julius Randle got the better of him in the Warriors-Timberwolves playoff series, comparing it to his earlier loss to Pascal Siakam. He describes Randle's unique moves and how Minnesota's skill level made the series less physical than the Houston matchup.
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Julius played great. Julius is incredible. Another reason why I said this series is like Toronto to me is because for this reason, I've been through, I think that was my 34th playoff series, but I could be off by 1 or 2, give or take each way. Could be 36, I don't know, something of that nature. Call it for the sake of doing numbers, call it, my 33rd playoff series. The only other playoff series where I felt like I lost my matchup like that, I didn't completely dominate my matchup, take over my matchup. The only other series really in my career where I feel like I lost my matchup was Toronto. I felt like I lost my matchup to Pascal Siakam. Game 1, he— crushed me. Game 2, I stifled him. Like maybe game 4, game 3 he was on, game 4 I had a better game. But I felt like I lost my matchup in that series. And this series also reminds me of that series because it's also a series where I don't feel like I lost my matchup. I lost my matchup. Like Julius was incredible and he played great basketball.
And honestly— He did.
Like some of the shots he was taking was shots that you want him to take and he made 'em. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And like he made the shots. Like at the end of the day, the game oftentimes come down to shot making and he made the shots. And so gotta give Drew a lot of credit, man. I've been playing against Julius. I remember going back to the first preseason game I playing against him in San Diego, California. We was playing in this game And like the court, like we end up, I think we end up stopping the game like right after halftime or something because the court was slippery. If I'm not mistaken, it's the same game that if you remember the clip, Kobe's picking up Steph full court, picking up Steph full court and Steph hits a 3 and tap him and either Steph taps him or he taps Steph or something like that. But if I'm not mistaken, it was that same game. That was my first time ever playing against Drew. Yeah. At that time, Drew had this move where he come down, he got the ball in his right hand, he throw the ball to his right, his left hand, and he stutter step. And I had never really faced a guy like that yet in the league. He was young coming in. So I struggled guarding that move. So when we played them the next preseason game, I watched a ton of clips, that move. And I'm like, oh, I know what I need to do to that move now. And we played them next preseason game and I shut the move down. Wow. We've been kind of having these little battles since Drew came into the league. And obviously this is the first one on a playoff level, but I gotta give it to him, man. He got the better of me. He got to. He got the better of me. With all respect, you know, I'm never a guy who's gonna hide from the truth. He was a tough cover. One of the tougher covers I've had in the playoff series. And it was very interesting because,— it did not feel like that series was as physical as the Houston series.
No, it was more physical. It just wasn't all the bullshit shenanigans. Like, they got a greater level of respect for y'all.
Fact.
Even when Steph went out, right? Like, I will say this, you have to watch Minnesota play in order to appreciate. You said something about Ed. Ant gets his money. Yeah. And he gets his money with everybody else getting their money too. And I didn't know that. They can beat you in so many different ways. And not only, like the three is not, they live or die. 'Cause Ant go to the hole, McDaniel go to the hole, Nasri go to the hole. You know, Colley still can penetrate, you know, pull up, run pick and roll. So they got a couple different styles. And then adding Julius Randle, who's my boy, that's my young dog. Great offense beat great defense all the time.
I disagree, but it did that time.
All the time.
Great, like it did. Not all the time. If you played a great— That is a cliché saying that I disagree with. You got it. But it definitely did this time.
Man, as a defender, there's been times where I've played probably the, I played the best defensive possession on Allen Iverson. And he made the shot.
No, that's great, but then there's times where you played the best defensive possession and shut guys down. So I just disagree with the statement. It's a very cliché statement that I understand what people saying, but I disagree with. But this time, no question. No question. Hey, so we all make mistakes, but owning up is the right thing to do. You know what Degree Cool Rush deodorant? Well, last year they changed the formula and it did not go well with their fans.
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You know, a lot of those shots is, is his talent. And Minnesota, when they— when I see Ed and I see Julius play like that, and I see what McDaniels can do with a little bit of freedom, what he did in the Lakers series coming off of that, then you got DiVincenzo, who's a dog, right? You got Nas Reid, who's a, a matchup problem, right? Because he, he moves like a guard. And so it's just a lot of— and then Rudy Gobert, If you get 2, 3 good games out of Rudy Gobert where he got a double-double, then it's like, ah, damn, they hard to stop. But I thought y'all play hard. I thought y'all gave it y'all. I do think that, I don't know if y'all was expecting another version of the Houston series, but like they wasn't into none of the bullshit. They just was hooping. Facts.
It was just hard basketball.
Yes.
Tough basketball.
Super hard. They played y'all tough.
Exactly.
It wasn't no bullying. We ain't gonna be staring them down. We gonna, it's hit or be hit, right? And I think as a whole, you guys weren't prepared for that 'cause they just hit a little bit harder than Houston. And they got on with they business, right? Where Houston, man, hit you, could've been tricky, murk up the game, and now it's a thing. They was just, oh my bad.
And that's why— I'm gonna tell you this though, BD. That's why I'm gonna kill it. They were physical for sure.
Yeah.
But I'll tell you, in playing in the game, that game wasn't as physical as Houston. It wasn't as physical because that's what Houston have to do in order to stay in the game.
Right, right.
And so when I tell you it wasn't as physical, I'm telling you, first, I've been in a million of these things, as you know. It was not as physical. It was a level of physicality, obviously, a high level of playoff physicality for sure. But the skill level was so much higher than Houston that the game was never even allowed to get to that level of physicality. Yeah. Because it's moving. So, you know, it's like, it's more this than playing a drum, you know? Like if you wanna equate it to a, a, a, a musical instrument, Houston's like beating the drum, whereas this is like on the piano. This is, you know, like on the guitar. This was like fine, high-level, high-skill movement with obviously playoff physicality for sure. You're in playoff series, but it couldn't even reach that level of physicality because it's too much motion. You know what I'm saying? It's too much.
Right, exactly.
And so that's kind of my takeaway from it. Like, yeah, they were physical for sure. Like, it's a level of playoff physicality that is gonna be met anyway. But it was so much higher level skill that I don't even think the game could reach that level because you can't even chuck somebody or grab somebody, like, because the game is moving at such a different tune. It's moving. Yeah.
You know what I mean?
That's what I meant.
Yeah. So, that was kind of my takeaway. What's up, R fans? We got some great news. We're thrilled to announce that the new show merchandise is available. The site is now live so you can check it out and grab your favorites. Go to thedgbdshow.com. That's thedgbdshow.com.
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