Draymond Green reacts to Pacers-Thunder Game 2: SGA outshines Haliburton to even NBA Finals at 1-1

You gotta run through everybody chest up, 1-0, to get the win. What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis. I'm on solo tonight. BD will be back Wednesday, live after Game 3. Just jumping right in, obviously it's NBA Finals time. That is the most important thing, although, It's not feeling like the most important thing. There's this whole debacle with the court and like, so I'm gonna rewind a little bit. Somewhere along the archives you could see me talking about like the NBA courts and how like it was so dope when at the center of the court was the logo, but the big Larry O'Brien trophy. Like that was so dope. It was fire. What happened to that? And like, Sure enough, we had went to like the size saying the finals or a trophy somewhere and like what happened to that? You know? So we come into this year where by all intents and purposes everybody's kind of been writing off this NBA Finals, you know, and in large part because it's like, hey, two new cast of characters, OKC and Indiana. But when I say also cast of new cast of characters, it's not Bron, it's not Steph, you know, it's not like Jason Tatum or— Draymond Green. You know, guys who you've seen in it over and over and over again. It's not that it's different, it's young guys. So I feel like a lot of people been writing this finals off. And so with that going on, the last thing I would expect is like no trophy be on the court. Like I'm a fan of the trophy being at center court, big as hell. And like there's no trophy on the court. And you know, I saw everybody going crazy about the flag waving. Yeah. Flag was waving, and then the trophy appeared on the court. I saw some funny memes on Instagram. One of them said, they gave us the "Here, N-word, here trophy." I said, oh my God. Like, here, get outta here, there you go. The internet is undefeated. But you know, I was really shocked by that. And so, you know, in saying that, getting back to the game, game 2, we have a 1-1 NBA Finals. OKC evened it out, winning the game 123 to 107. Kind of getting back to their dominant ways, although, It's crazy, man. I don't know what to make of this series. You know, you watch this series and it's crazy because, okay, see, that's 2 times now where you see them build up that big lead and you think they about to like, and it just kind of floats around 20, 19, 17, 11, 22, 17, 20. Like it's kind of floating. You ain't necessarily seeing them put them away. How they've put teams away. And to me that's interesting because you always know, like with Indiana, what they've shown is that they're always in striking distance. Like you get 'em a puncher's chance, they taking the chance. And so they've shown that. And so this series is just a little weird to me. I think when I watch this series, what I'm taking away after a couple games is like, who are the most important players in this series? Like, Who, when you watch the series, who's like, oh man, this guy has to play well in order for this team to win? Obviously Holly has to play well. No, Holly had, I think 12 points in the fourth quarter, end up finishing with 17. But I must tell you the Holly, and I said it last time, the Holly that I thought, the Holly that I thought would come out, It wasn't that guy, right? Like I think he came out like, like you gotta understand, see this is where experience, you always hear people talk about experience in these moments. This is where the experience take over because I said after the last game I was like, yo, Halle gonna come out, he gonna come out firing. He don't have two bad games in a row. And to me it didn't feel like he came out forcing the issue of not having the bad game. Like because, When you, when you the guy and you in this situation, and so for instance, they pulled out game 1, surprisingly, shockingly, shouldn't have, couldn't have, wouldn't have, whatever you may feel, they pulled out game 1, putting them in the driver's seat. And guess what? They, the reality is they still in the driver's seat. They won 1 going back home, but that put them really in the driver's seat. Like, there's no better feeling than the NBA Finals or the Any playoff series, you pull into town and you win game 1 and you free rolling for game 2. There's no better feeling than having a free roll, free swing. You got a free swing in game 2. There's no better feeling. But when I say the experience come in, I saw Halle complain for a foul call, like try to flop early in the game. And I said to my boys, I said, he should understand they up 1-0.

Yeah.

You gotta run through everybody's chest up 1-0 to get the win. Like, you ain't getting a flop call. You ain't, like, when you up 1-0 in that situation, you gotta like, you gotta do all that you can to take game 2. And you gotta show everybody that you mean business. Then you have to, and even when you show them that you mean business, you still gotta go take game 2. And no call, no whistles going your way. That's just human nature. It's just not happening. And so when I saw that early on, I was like, "Ha." I literally said to my boys, "He gotta, he better understand what—" And so that's where I say the experience takes over because when you the guy in that situation, you gotta come out going for broke because you have to play incredible. You got the guys that's across from you pissed off. These guys even pissed off that they just felt like they gave one away. Their first ever NBA Finals experience. They feel like they gave the game away. Not only are they pissed off that they feel like they gave the game away, but naturally they're down 0-1. Like, you gotta come out pissed off. You cannot go down 0-2. And so you're up against that. And I just didn't think he came out with the aggressiveness that it would've required him to win. Like, in order to go take that game too, he gotta come out so aggressive to where his guys on his side, like, Hey, that's what we own. Like, it's almost like, and they see it and like, all right, like, well, I can't leave him out there, so I gotta do X, Y, and Z. And I just didn't think I saw that same. It's the first time all playoffs I'll say I ain't saw that. We've seen them win game 1 after game 1 after game 1. And game 2, they came out fired. Like, so it's the first time I'll say that I can recall them like not like coming out swinging. And so I'll give them that. But I think that's just something that you have to understand and experience can't change that, you know? So you got OKC with 5 players with 15 plus, first time in the NBA Finals since— we won't talk about the NBA Finals. Who the fuck cares about the NBA Finals? You wanna know when that NBA Finals was, you can go look it up yourself. We won't talk about that NBA Finals. and moving on. You know, I told y'all I get these rundowns and like just to help me stay on topic, you know, on there. So I know what topics I want to hit. Boom, boom, boom. And then I roll and we got Charles over here put us the first time since the finals versus, you know, whatever. Just throw my whole aura off, man. Anyway, just stole my whole— you know what, moving on. Uh, SGA had 34 points, 8 assists, 4 steals in game 2. While, you know, they have 5 players with— I'm so thrown off right now. Like, y'all don't understand. This guy want— this is like the 4th time he's done it where he like throw a little jab, like And by the way, y'all should know this wasn't on my rundown. When I first looked through my rundown, it wasn't on there. Then you look back in the parentheses and say, first time since 2019 NBA Finals by the Raptors. Like, that's a very soft spot for me, if anyone could guess why. And I'm not over it. You never get over these things. But anyway, Shai. Passed AI for the most points in a first two career finals game. AI has 71, Shaq has 72. The significance of that, shout out to AI. Happy birthday to the OG. Happy 50th birthday. AI turning 50 is crazy. Like AI's our childhood and he turned 50. Shout out to the OG Bubba Chuck, man. We love you, AI.

Yeah.

Nothing can change that. You are a God forever. We appreciate you. Much love to AI. Happy birthday to the GOAT, to the legend. Nothing but love for AI. I forgot where I was going with my whole thing because that thing threw me all the way off, but we're gonna move on.

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So going back to OKC having 5 players with over 15 points, it makes it interesting for me because when you look at OKC, who are the most important players on that team? And for me, I, I feel like I struggle with that. Like, I don't think there's any question that J Dub is the second. Most important player, the second best player, however you wanna script it, it's J-Dub. I don't think any of us have any doubt on that. But I think where it gets interesting for me is when I watch these things, I try to think about these things in terms of like, if I was playing against them, like what are you prioritizing, right? Because when you go in these series, it's an NBA team, it's the best NBA teams. And a lot of times in these series you have to pick like, I'm willing to let that thing beat me because in the NBA, like it's hard to stop everything. Like you got so much talent, you got so many IQs and basketball smarts amongst these coaches, Taz, that, that's just how I think about it. Like what, what would I be willing to look at and say, all right, that's the thing that's gonna beat me. Well, in turn, that requires you to put into context like who's the most important people, you know? Like who's the— and when I look at it, when I take a step back and look at this, I always feel like it's hard to like, who's the most important person, right? Like in theory you wanna say it's Chet. Like in theory it looks like it's supposed to be Chet. But like when I take a step back, I look at this team Hey, Chet was out this year, a large bulk of this year, and they were just fine. Even Hardenstein was out for quite a bit and that team rolled. Like, I think they had like J Dub at the 5 or Lou at the 5 and they still continued to roll. Then they played Kendrick Williams at some 5. Like, they just figured it out and continued to roll. And so it brings you to the point of who's like the third most important player on the team. And also who's the third most important player on the team may not be the third most important player in a series. And that's where it gets tricky when you start talking about third most important players, third option, because like one and two is usually always one and two. That's what it is. And then the regular season, third is usually third. Like it's— but when you get to the playoffs, third can be taken out of a series and five or six can become more important than three. Mm-hmm. And I feel like when I look at this OKC team, I actually think the third most important player is Alex Caruso. And I find it very interesting because, hey, he come off the bench. I think that's always interesting in itself. Like, he's coming off the bench, he's the third most important player. Sometimes you run into that in the regular season. Lou Will, for instance, right? Like, you got a coach that's agreeing, like, yo, we want you to get this Sixth Man Award. Like, But when they get to the playoffs, they usually go out the window. And I think Caruso is so important to what they do. And I feel like you never game plan for him. And so because you don't game plan for him, he coming to these finals and he, and he go crazy. But the reality is he's a champion. So he actually knows what to expect. If I'm a betting man, and not even a betting man, but—

Yeah.

If I am, if I'm a coach, if I'm an opposing coach, I'm saying, man, I know this guy. But see, and that's where I think playing makes a difference is like, because you understand a little more. And I'd be like, Caruso's been in this moment. He's shown us over and over again he can deliver in this moment. I think I'm gonna make the guy, like, I'm gonna make him so important to our game plan. I'm gonna make less of importance in our game plan. To the guy who hasn't done it. Can't do that to Shay. Yeah, he hasn't been there, but come on. What you doing? J Dub, you try that if you want to. We once tried to let Jaylen Brown shoot threes in the game. We lost by 60. It's fine. It was just a throw something out there, cast it out there, see if it worked. It didn't work. So don't go for number 2. But for number 3, I actually think Caruso's more important, especially for this series.

Yeah.

And so place that bet on the guy that hasn't done it, and Chet hasn't done it. I know Caruso can beat me. He's shown me he can beat me on several different points. Back then when he won a championship, he showed you he can beat you. And so I'm just not sure that that'd be the bet that I'd be making. And I think that's where it gets interesting. Like I think, Indiana staff gonna have to take a deep dive, but like importance, like who hurts us more? Because J Dub had a pretty average, not great, but decent, like decently productive game 1. And they should've won the game. Like they blew the game, but they should've won the game. But Chet was bad. Like Chet did not have a good game. Yeah. And you fast forward, J Dub played better tonight. Also, Chet played better tonight. Also, everybody played better tonight. But I'm just not sure that in, especially in this series, that if I'm not the opposing coach on Indiana, I'm not making the bet that our game plan need to be focused on these 3 guys. Got what we can do to take these 3 guys out of it. And what can I do to take Alex Caruso completely out the game? Like, how can I scheme against Alex Caruso to possibly take him completely out the game? Because he's so important to everything they do. Like, defensively, he's so important to everything they do. Offensively, he could be another guy that can handle the ball, that's smart, that make decisions, that's gonna shoot the right shots, not take the wrong shots. So if you can put him in a situation where you can figure out how to make him uncomfortable, how to make him How to make the coach second-guess playing him because he's clearly not all the way bought in on him. He's, we'd be starting him. Like, you understand the importance of that. So how can I put him in a position to where he have to think, meaning Mark Dagnall, how do you think? And he may go the wrong way. I think that's what the Indiana Pacers has to be figuring out. Like, this has to be a matchup game for them. Like, they gotta get so diabolical down to each matchup, each person on the floor. Yeah. A how can we exploit any weakness that OKC has? Because obviously OKC's the better team, but they don't have the experience. And because they don't have the experience, you have to exploit those things while they don't have the experience. And that's where this series gets really interesting for me is can Rick Carlisle and his staff exploit OKC's youth. Exploiting their youth means a multitude of things, but simply put, putting them in situations that they have not seen, that they can be uncomfortable in, and that it's gonna take a little while to figure out because you already stole one game. So all of a sudden you, you get to a certain point in the NBA Finals where you steal, wink, get another. You put doubt, anything you need to creep in for you to win this series is what has to happen. So it'll be interesting to see if they make some of those adjustments to make them more uncomfortable. Because ultimately right now, I think even with OKC losing game 1, they were comfortable. Like they felt like they should have won. They came out, they played hard, they got it done. Yeah. And that's that. So what can you do to make this group uncomfortable? As I think what— and obviously that's everybody's like thought, right? But like them more so than other, like how do you make them uncomfortable to where you can play at their youth? 'Cause the only way you can play at their youth is to make them uncomfortable and then play at it. Right now, if you just leave them comfortable, it's irrelevant. But if you can make them uncomfortable and then pull their youth strings, I think that's how you ultimately gotta beat this team. And I think that's what Indiana has to do. But going back, you know, to Halle, like I said, Halle gotta be, gotta be more aggressive. And you gotta come out swinging 'cause the guy's gonna follow you. That's just what it boils down to. So we'll see. OKC's bench was, uh, was great. You had Caruso with 20 off the bench. You had Aaron Wiggins with 18 threes, 18 points, 5 threes off the bench.

Yeah.

And now the show goes on the road and it gets more interesting. You know why? Because role players play better at home and not on the road. And all the role players stepping up is what won for OKC today. But I can see what Indiana's theory is. We're gonna try to take everyone else out, make it tough on everyone else, and make Shay beat us one-on-one. Problem is Shay had 34 and 8. And everybody else got off. So if that's gonna be a theory, you gotta actually stop everybody else. And they did not do that tonight. So, you know, I think if I'm Indiana, I think you gotta throw more zone.

Yeah.

OKC, pack the paint a little more. Sometimes you gotta dare them to shoot. But I think with just like with any NBA team, like, especially at this level, you gotta switch it up. Like sometimes you gotta be daring in the shoot, sometimes you gotta be flying at the closeout. And like, you just gotta keep these guys off balance. Once again, playing at that youth, I think if you can do that, that's ultimately what wins you the game. I saw something that Mark Dagnall said after the game. He said, Indiana is an acquired taste. We haven't played them a lot. They play a distinct style on both ends. I just thought the guys did a good job of just improving, which is important going from game 1 to game 2. I see what he's getting at. Like, they're a little unco— they're a little unconventional for sure. Uh, but when it boils down to it, you gotta go out there and beat me. And tonight OKC just did that. So I think this series is interesting. Uh, OKC could very much so go win the next 2 games. Indiana, as we know, could very much so go on and win these next 2 games. And I think it's gonna be like, Ultimately, Rick Carlisle has to undoubtedly outcoach Mark Dano in order for the Pacers to win this series. I think Rich Carlisle is a great coach. I think he's capable of outcoaching someone. So we'll see if he do it. Before we do that, I have to remind you that Ice Cube's Big 3 League tips off its new season on Vice TV. —And the opener is stacked with talent. Saturday, June 14th, the Houston Rig Hands, led by NBA veterans Gerald Green and Corey Brewer, and coached by Hall of Famer Calvin Murphy, take on DMV Trilogy featuring Earl Clark, Isaiah Briscoe, and coached by former NBA champ Stephen Jackson.

Later, Boston Ball Hogs with 2022 Big Three MVP Kevin Murphy and coached by the great, The Club, Gary Payton himself, go up against Dallas Power, headlined by Glenn Rice Jr. and Royce White, with Hall of Fame coach Nancy Lieberman calling the shots. This isn't a warmup. It's real competition. Fast, physical, and every possession matters.

So don't miss the Big 3 season opener Saturday, June 14th at 6:03 PM Eastern only on Vice TV. Find your channel now at vicetv.com. We gonna move around this league a little bit before we get outta here. What is your reaction to Wimby the Monk? I saw a meme that said, uh-oh, Wimby went bald already. It's over for the league now. Much respect to anybody who's following their religion, who's following their beliefs, whatever it is that they believe. Much respect to anybody. I didn't know. I was a little surprised by the photo op, but I guess in 2025 you can't be surprised by any photo op. But yeah, when I saw it, the first thing I thought was like, is he in San Antonio? Like, I hope he's doing well. Obviously we remember he left with a blood clot, so I've been keeping my fingers crossed and sending up my prayers to the big man, just, you know, for everybody to be healthy. So I hope that means he's healthy.

Yeah.

Moving forward to my guy, Spartan Dawg, Michigan State alum. He went to grad school at Michigan State. He's a Penn State undergrad. It's my guy, actually trained me for the NBA draft. So little quick story for y'all. I signed with Ron Shade coming out of college. Ron Shade is my agent. Ron, that's my brother still to this day. Ron is with Octagon Sports now, but Ron is my brother. That's my guy. And I signed with Ron coming outta college and I went to Chicago where Ron lived for like 3 or 4 days and I was training. And it wasn't that the trainer wasn't great because I actually thought the trainer was great. Like when I go to Chicago, I still train with him. Like he's incredible. His name's Basil. Basil's incredible trainer. Yeah.. But I trained there for a few days and I told him like, yo, I'm gonna go back to Michigan State. And the reason I went back was more so it wasn't about the training or anything. It was about, I felt like I had grinded and became who I became at Michigan State. So literally my first 3 summers in the NBA, every summer I went back to Michigan State because I felt like that was the place where I go. And when I go there, I lock in like no other. I grind, I get to it. Like, And so that's where I felt comfortable, like, going through my pre-draft grind at. So I went back there, and who trained me for the draft, literally trained me for my pre-draft workout, was Jordan I. Jordan was a video guy, video coordinator at Michigan State. He had been a GA before, then he left and took the video job at Penn State, came back and took it at Michigan State. Mm-hmm. And trained me for the NBA draft. Jordan Ott becomes the head coach of the Phoenix Suns. Shout out to J-Ott. J-Ott came into the NBA with the Hawks, worked under Bud, super tight with Kenny, went to Brooklyn with Kenny, worked on the staff with Darvin Ham, the Lakers, went as Kenny's top assistant, Kenny Atkinson at Cleveland. And yesterday or two days ago was named head coach for the Phoenix Suns. And man, to watch somebody like come from a video coordinator at Michigan State, GA, to like becoming a head coach in the NBA, so special.

Oh.

So I'm happy as hell for Jordan Atkinson, man. It should be him. Uh, Brian Gregory, all Spartans. Paul Rivers, Spartan. Um, happy as hell for them. So congratulations, Jordan. Shout out to Jordan. I think Phoenix got a great one. Uh, shout out to Jordan's wife, Jordan. Uh, they are the best. Known them since I was fucking 16 years old. And, uh, to see him become a head coach in this league and just grind his way up. It's absolutely incredible. And I know Phoenix got a great one. When you talking X's and O's, one of the best in the business. Not a guy who's afraid to hear his own voice. Absolutely incredible to see. So I'm happy as hell for Draymond Green. And like I said, shout out to him, shout out to Matt, shout out to the Phoenix Suns. They're locking in a great coach that I think will be there for the next 20 years if you want to be. Speaking of trainers, Bron discusses how the next generation are relying more on basketball trainers instead of just playing the game. I heard what Bron said. I know he said like, yo, I just went to hoop. And I agree with that. Like growing up, I actually didn't know, I didn't learn how to do a proper individual workout till I got to college. It's growing up, like I'm going to hoop. Like where's the nearest run? Drop me off, I'll play all day. Like that's what we did. We hooped all day. So I think there's a huge benefit to that because you just learn to see the game. Like you learn to see the game. I talked on Kimball the other night about my son and just like watching him play and like how he knew how to play. And he like, some of the stuff I know he pick up on naturally just because he's always around basketball. He watch it.

Yeah.

And so you imagine growing up like we did, you playing basketball all day, the nuances and things you figure out about the game. It's different when somebody just putting you in a position to tell you to do this move. Like how do you use your creativity? How do you learn like, oh man, I can do this if somebody just say do this? How do you know what you're about? How do you know what your game is if you never tap into it and just figure it out? And so I understand, like, I think, you know, there's a time and place for a trainer. And I think, you know, with the, where the game has gone, like you need those resources in order to be successful. I feel like basketball used to be a poor man's game. Like we all played it, poor kids played it. We were poor, we had nothing, and it was our way out. Basketball is not a poor kid's game no more. Basketball is a rich kid game. Like the days of seeing LeBron James from Akron, Ohio, from a single mom, Those days are, are, are numbered. Like they're not, because if you don't have the resources these days, like you can't make it. Like it's become a rich kids game and basketball didn't used to be that. And so I think all of that goes into like with the trainers and stuff like, but that's, I also feel like that's why like you don't see as great a basketball as you did before because there's no imaginations. Everybody's doing the same thing, playing the same way.

Yeah.

And I think a lot of that is due sometimes to having trainers. Not that having a trainer is a bad thing, but again, if you never get to use your imagination, then you just become a carbon copy of somebody else the trainer created. And so I agree with Bron to a certain extent. I think, you know, you, you do gotta get out there and play and you gotta get out there and just figure it out. 'Cause when you get out there on that court, ain't nobody to put you in a position. You gotta put yourself in a position. Ain't nobody there to place you. You gotta get there. So I think there needs to be a healthy balance, and I don't think that balance is near being found. I did not watch the Lance Stephenson, Michael Beasley one-on-one. These are fan questions, by the way. I did not watch it. I didn't know what time it came on, number one, but I did see like the back and forth before and after and saw some of the highlights. It looked very entertaining. One thing's for certain, we all know Michael Beasley is one of the best guys to ever dribble a basketball and like shoot the ball and put the ball in the hoop. Michael Beasley is one of the best that has ever done. I don't think, you, you won't get many basketball players to disagree with that. And so I heard it was super entertaining. I think it was dope. I saw some people say it should be at All-Star Game. I think King of the Hill would be fun, but it kind of becomes a dunk contest. A lot of people don't want to get embarrassed. So how many people really do it? I don't know. We'll see. Before we get out of here, who wins Game 3? You got Indiana going home. I'm taking Indiana Game 3. I'm gonna take Indiana Game 3. Crowd gonna be electric. They haven't played well, so they gotta have a good game coming at some point. They ain't just gonna keep playing bad. And I'mma think, I think they saved it for game 3, first one at home. So I'mma take Indiana game 3. We shall see how it turns out. But however it turn out, me and BD will be right here live after game 3. Check us out, tune in, don't miss out. Until next time, that's a wrap on this episode of the Draymond Green Show with BD. But he not here today. Peace.