Draymond Green tells Baron Davis why the NBA Cup feels more intense than regular season games: the special jerseys, altered court, and single-elimination stakes create a mini-NCAA tournament atmosphere. Recent dramatic finishes like Detroit's overtime winner and Boston's upset loss to Atlanta show teams are playing with playoff-level urgency.
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I don't know what it is, but whatever this in-season thing is, it just like the whole intensity, you know what I mean? Of playing it like, I don't know if it's the different court or if it's how they matching up the rivalries, but the shit cracking.
The courts make you automatically feel like something's different. Like when you walk out there on that court, the court's different, jersey's different. You automatically like, "Oh, something's different." Yeah. And so it's like this aura around him, man. This aura in the gym. Soon as we walked in last night, we walked out, I should say, we ran up. Lou said, "Man, this feel like Oracle." I said, "It do feel like Oracle." Like, it's just a different vibe around them in-season tournament games, bro. Excuse me, NBA Cup.
Yeah, the NBA Cup.
These NBA Cup games, man. And we saw it last year. And like, if you had any doubt that like, oh, the first, you know what I'm saying? The first year it was exciting, but it ain't. If you had any doubt, look no further than last night. The Detroit Pistons winning on the last second shot in overtime.
Come on, man. That was wild.
Us having to come back from down 7 with under 4 minutes to go. And winning that game in regulation. The Boston Celtics losing to a Trae Young-less Atlanta Hawks team in Boston.
Right.
Like Portland destroyed, Portland destroyed the Timberwolves, beat them by 14 points. Like these in-season tournament games is different, man.
Yeah, you can't get cocky.
And it's like an NCAA tournament.
Mm-hmm.
Because not that you want it done, but you feel like that because if you lose, once you lose, it's no longer in your control.
Right.
Right? Now if you can win out, you control everything. But if you lose, you're at the mercy of—
Of everybody else.
Yeah. Exactly.
Of the system.
And man, and, and so it's crazy because it, it started off as like this whole thing of like, yo, We can go win $500,000. And it's crazy, BD, nobody even mentions the money anymore.
Right, right.
It's just all about like, yo, we wanna go win this thing.
Yeah, 100%.
Like, we wanna compete for this thing.
Yeah.
And I think the NBA has done an incredible job of creating this NBA Cup.
Yeah.
And I think as fans, and when I say as fans, I am a fan of this game.
For sure.
As fans, we need to embrace this thing for what it is.
Big time.
It is an in-season championship.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's crazy.
Very much so. And by the way, it should be celebrated. Just, it's something, see, it take people a while to come around because it's something so new to you. Like, "Ah, that don't matter." But like the Lakers winning that last year, it should be celebrated. When these, when you watch it, when you look at, Basketball, the NBA is a global game. When you look at La Liga and even EuroLeague basketball, all these different cups, they matter.
They play games.
You know what I'm saying? That stuff matters. And so I'm hoping to see this continue to grow with fans, for fans to celebrate this. Is it going to be an NBA championship? No. It'll never be an NBA championship. He's gonna take you the whole season.
But it matter.
But it matters, man.
It matters so much. 'Cause like you think about, you don't get no rewards from training camp. You don't get no rewards from preseason. You don't get no rewards for start of the season. And everybody trying to play to be an all-star. You feel what I'm saying? So this kind of changed a lot of the mentality. 'Cause now you gotta be team oriented. You look at a team like, Indiana, right?
Yes.
They run, help them have that run in the playoffs. You know what I mean? That confidence. And so for a young team being able to snatch some wins, get a, you know, and maybe even make it to the cup or to the final four, man, you know how like somebody like a Detroit and a Portland, you never know. They could get, this could, it's tricky times right now. You feel me? Anybody can get hot. I remember when I was playing, like the Houston Rockets won like 23 in a row and nobody was expecting that. But like, dude, if you get, you know, you beat a Timberwolves, you beat a Miami Heat, as one of, you know, a Detroit or a Portland, you could get hot. You know what I mean? And like, especially for where you guys are right now, you know, it's like this underdog mentality. It's like, man, I want that cup. If it's out there, you feel what I'm saying? If it's out there, bring it on.
It's an opportunity to go get it. You know what I'm saying?
Absolutely.
And that's how guys are looking at it, man. So, and just again, the fan in me and just watching these NBA Cup games, I love that how it's at the beginning of the season.
Yep.
I think in January, February or something like that, as this NBA Cup continue to become more and more successful, Yeah. If they do like a, like an intra-conference cup, you know what I'm saying? So like these Eastern Conference teams are playing in some type of cup for a few weeks. Western Conference teams playing against each other in some type of cup for a few weeks. Boom, then All-Star break happen. Once you come outta All-Star break, as you and I both know, now the eyes are set on the playoffs.
Oh yeah, yeah.
It's going January, February games, you know what I'm saying? You can fall. Exactly. And that's a way.
Yep.
You make those games more meaningful. That's a way to, I wouldn't necessarily say compete because it's just a such different thing, but that's a way to compete with the NFL at that time.
Yeah. It's just a lot of games. You know what I'm saying?
Make them games more meaningful at that time.
Yeah.
I think so.
You need the NBA Cup, you need the end season tournament, you need another cup. Right, because it's so many games. Like, you gotta have different feeling and different emotion to like, you know, up it a level. And man, the training camp, preseason, first part of the season, like we see a lot of guys getting injured, you know? And it's like the season has been accelerated so fast that when you jump into it, it's like, damn, dude. You know, you may not be in the best shape or you not, you know, like it take a while to get in basketball, NBA shape, game shape, and you gonna have these little knickknacks. And so something like this is just so important for the right team with the right mentality who got nothing to lose coming into the season. You know what I mean?
100%.
And that shit can propel you going into All-Star being like, damn, like, All we gotta do is win 20 outta, you know, 20 outta 30 and we in, you know?
