Draymond Green's Keys to Thunder vs Spurs Game 7 & Thoughts on Flopping!

What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. On today's show, the best two words in sports is Game 7. I'll break down what I've seen in this series up to this point, some thoughts on this series, and obviously a prediction for Game 7. With nothing else going on in the NBA, let's get right into it. [MUSIC] This series has been interesting because the storylines from this series has been "Aw man, they're pushing Wimby too much," to, "Aw man, Shea's flopping too much," to, "Aw man, the referees are calling too many fouls for Shea." "Aw man, Shea's falling too much." And what has not really been appreciated is the level of play on the floor. The elite level of play that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander brings to the court. The elite level, Steph Curry-like play that Victor Wembanyama, or Steph Curry-like excitement that Victor Wembanyama brings to the floor, to where you're watching the game, and at any moment when you're not watching that game, you can miss like one of the most insane things that you've ever seen a player do. À la Steph Curry when you're watching Victor Wembenyama. And it's ironic that none of the conversation has been about that or the play of Dylan Harper, who's a rookie and just keep finding a way. And yeah, he's had a couple bad games, but he keep finding a way. Mm-hmm. Or the elite level defense of Stephon Castle. Elite level defense, I say it again, of Stephon Castle. The Stephon Castle's turning the ball over too much to 2 games in a row of 1 turnover. Why are we not talking about these things? Because sports media fucking sucks. It's awful. No one talks basketball anymore. But no one knows basketball anymore because the shit is just moving too fast, huh? Yeah. Everything's moving too fast. And so we wanna pinpoint the thing that we can slow down. Shea's falling. Shea's at the free throw line. Everybody's complaining about Shea getting too many foul calls. And going into game 6, Shea has shot 5 more free throws on the series than Wimby. But the whole complaint is Shea's getting too many foul calls. I don't understand it. Ah man, he's foul baiting. Shay, what I will say is you've reached a new level of greatness, my man. Congratulations. Your hard work has paid off. You've reached a new level of greatness because you have sports media heads coming out and talking about what they don't like about your greatness. Imagine that. You got people coming out talking about what they don't like about your greatness. That's incredible. As if Shea Gildress-Alexander is running up and down the court with the whistle in his mouth calling the foul for him. Self. Self. That's what we gonna act like. We gonna act like this man has on a zebra shirt and he's blowing the whistle for himself. Or we can just act like the complete integrity of the NBA is all off and they just calling fouls for Shea Gildress Alexander. The NBA ain't got no integrity. They just calling fouls for one guy. Fortunately, that theory doesn't work because the other guy, main guy on the other side, Draymond Green going into game 6 has shot 5 less free throws when all the complaint was happening. That's why I'm saying before game 6. Imagine that. So, so that theory don't work. So maybe we can just appreciate greatness and what Shea is showing and what he's doing and what he's capable of. Maybe we can just appreciate the greatness. And if we gonna appreciate the greatness for what it is, then we gotta appreciate what Stephon Castle is showing us. Then we gotta really appreciate what that young man is showing us, which is elite level defense on the back-to-back MVP of the NBA. Now, yes, it's a little bit tougher. J Dub ain't out there. Even J Dub was just out there. J Dub wasn't out there. AJ Mitchell ain't out there. It makes things a little tougher on Shea. So give Stephon Castle his credit. Also, let's sit back and identify what's not there, what is there, why this isn't happening, why this is happening. Man, when you, when you take your secondary ball handler like Jalen Williams off the floor against a great team, yes, they've been able to do it all regular season. Yes, they've been able to do it through the playoffs, but now they are playing the second best team in the Western Conference. It catches up to them at times. Then you take your third best ball handler, AJ Mitchell, off the floor. Catches up to you. So now all of a sudden Jared McCain has to handle a little bit more, right? I don't know that he's best suited handling and creating for himself. Yeah, he get to it at times, but I don't know that he's best suited, especially not on the road. At home, little bit more comfortable, little bit, they got, they gonna bump you a little bit less 'cause you get the home whistle. That's just how things go because referees are human, right? Like— Yeah. So that's just how things go. You get the home whistle, you gonna get a little better whistle at home, right? So they ain't gonna bump you as much, you know, like, so it's easier for a Jared McCain at home, struggles a little bit more on the road to get to different things, right? So now you take those two secondary ball handlers off and you got more of that. It's tougher, right? Just a little bit tougher. And so, But again, give Stephon Castle his credit. I don't know why we just can't appreciate what these guys are doing. Everybody got an opinion, but they ain't never did it. Everybody. Hov said it, everybody wanna tell you how to do it, they never did it. Everybody got an opinion though. I mean, I've been baffled watching people talk about Shea Gildress-Alexander Like, he just not him. Like, he didn't just win back-to-back MVPs in the NBA, which is the best basketball league in the world by a long shot. There's not a close second basketball league in the world to the NBA. There's not a close second. That's no disrespect to anyone. That's just a fact. From a money value standpoint, talent, it's just not a close second. And this guy who's been number 1 hands down the last 2 years, we really gonna try to discredit him and act like it's all because he flopped? It's all because he drew some fouls? That's what we really gonna— You all think the NBA is that easy to where this guy just flops and go to the free throw line and he becomes like, The back-to-back MVP in this league? We're going to really dumb the NBA down to that? That's, that's, that's a shame. It's actually sickening. It's sickening. I have a fond appreciation for the work Shea Gildress-Alexander puts in, and I don't know the work he put in because I don't see him work every day, but I do know the work he put in because I know to do that again, to be the defending champ, come back, run the MVP back again. I know the work Steph Curry put in. I've seen that for 14 years. And the guy that I seen do that, win a championship and then come back and run it back and win MVP, I know the work I saw him put in. So I got an idea of the work Shea puts in. And we just gonna dumb that down to a flop and drawing a foul? Man, stop it. Yeah. Really? We really not gonna act like this dude can't get a bucket any which way? We really gonna do that? We really gonna act like the NBA is that easy of a place to succeed that he can just fall or flop and get a foul call and go to the free throw line and he gonna be the back-to-back best player in that league 2 years in a row? And we gonna act like it's just that? I'm sick of it. I am sick of it. Why we just can't appreciate these players, man? They doing it at a high level. I'm enjoying watching it. It's been a little unfortunate the games ain't been that great, right? Like, game 1 was great. Every game after that kind of been a blowout. That's been a little disappointing. But with home teams winning, you know, OKC winning, got the one at Spurs they needed to get. But it just, if I'm honest, it hasn't been like, like give me some great games, man. Like I wanna see some great games, some back and forth, some, ah man, they were struggling with this, they figured it out and now they doing this, they adjusted and figured this out. It's been kind of like, oh man, OKC look tired tonight. All right, they ain't gonna play the fourth, they throwing it in. All right, Wemby look tired tonight, he come out not aggressive in the first half. Next night he energetic, he come out aggressive and 16 shots in the first half. Like, yeah, that's the Wemby y'all gonna need to beat them. It's been more of that. Who gonna come out more aggressive? Yes, that's always the number one adjustment in any NBA series is turn up the pressure, get more aggressive, get more physical. That's always the number one adjustment, make no mistake about it. But that's kind of just been the tale of this series. And I don't know that it should be that way. So now, so then you ask yourself the question like, That's happening with OKC, right? And they're able to stay in this series, but OKC's kind of down their second and third best player, if you will, maybe second and fourth best player. And, but, but, but, but you gotta play who's on the floor. And so I'm not saying that that's San Antonio's fault. Make no mistake about it. That's not San Antonio's fault. And if they pull off this series, I don't care who's down. You win the series, you gotta win who play. So I'm not, that's not a knock at San Antonio at all. But what it does say to me is that that's where you see the age show up. That's where you see the inexperience show up. Now they're getting through it because again, they getting through it for whatever reason they getting through it. Whether your opinion is because they're hurt or not, they're getting through it, but You have to sit back and wonder, like, if OKC was healthy, could they just put these boys away? Needless to say, it does not matter. But I feel like that's where you start to see the inexperience creep in, right? Because you just can't skip over the process. Like, that's just not how it goes. That's where you see the inexperience start to creep in. Again, we'll see if they can ultimately close out this series. They've given themselves a chance. Now on the flip side, De'Aaron Fox missed the first couple games, hasn't quite been himself, struggling a bit. You wonder if that's due to the injury. I've seen Fox in the playoffs. Fox is not one to go hide and you know, he's not one that struggles with pressure or big moments. Fox ain't that guy. Now this is the biggest moment of his career, furthest he's ever gone, of course. But Fox ain't that guy, right? So he's a little banged up as well. It's kind of been a war of attrition. Yeah. You hate that it turns into that, but it happens in series where you get games every other day. You know, the first round spread out crazy and then all these games start happening every other day. We saw Cleveland hadn't had 2 days off for over a month or so. They were still going. So, you know, it turns into a war of attrition at times. And right now San Antonio's kind of winning that battle a bit. You know, Shay looked a little tired. Now, Game 7 coming up, Shay's a great. He'll figure it out. Wemby's kind of been every other game. He gave you everything last game. Can he get it going for this Game 7? I expect so because he seemed like somebody who want all that smoke. He want all that smoke. He's shown that. Can he power through every other game? Durability, right? Like when you're talking about competing and winning a championship, durability. Can he do that? With these guys, you know, looking tired here and looking tired there. Again, I talk about the lack of experience, but one thing I will tell you all is whenever the season ends, and in particular on long playoff runs, when it ends, like when I'm going through the playoffs, honestly, I don't feel tired at all. When it ends, the moment it ends, whether it ends in the second round, like last year against Minnesota, whether it ends with winning the championship, like 2022 or multiple other years, or whether it ends in losing in the finals, like 2016 or 2019, no matter when it ends, I feel like I got hit by a truck. I mean, it's literally like the, it's just like, Boom! And oftentimes for days after, I don't leave and go out of town. I literally just find me a spot for days and just sit there. And oftentimes sit there and just like blank stares. And I sit there like that because what it boils down to and what these young guys gotta understand is ultimately everybody's tired. Mm-hmm. But I don't even allow my mind to process. That I'm tired. Like I can't allow my mind to process the thought of being tired because if it processes the thought of being tired, my body is done. I'm hurting. Of course I'm hurting. It hurts. It hurts to win a championship. It hurts to go through the playoff. It fucking hurts. I promise you it hurts like hell. When you see these guys out there falling constantly, that, I promise you, they getting up and going, that shit hurts. And so I don't allow my mind to process being tired because my body can't take that. If my body, if my mind processes, my body is done. So the moment my mind processes, "Oh man, it's over," it feel like I got hit by a truck. And I oftentimes for days just sit there and blank stares and try to gather myself. And I tell everybody around me, they like, "Yo, how are you?" I'm like, "I'm—" I'm tired. Awful. Why are you awful? I feel like I got hit by a truck and I don't have a life. What do you mean you don't have a life? Well, for 9 months I've shown up at this place at this time every day for 9 months and now it's over and I have to figure out what I'm now doing with these days. Yes, I have a family. Yes, I have kids. But again, for 9 months you've had this regimen and now it's gone. Whether you won it, you lost it. But also more importantly, I now just processed tired as fuck. And so these young guys gotta understand, you can't be tired from game to game in the playoffs. You can't allow your mind to process fatigue. But then you get hit by the truck after. If you're trying to keep up with the NBA playoffs right now, you already know the games are kind of everywhere. 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Now, before I let y'all know What my prediction is going into game 7, I will share a few things, just some of the factors that I think going into this game 7 is extremely important. Home game matters, right? Because we've seen the difference in the Jared McCains, we've seen the difference in the Lou Dortz, we've seen the difference in the Chet Holmgren. We've seen the difference in these guys when they in Oklahoma and when they in San Antonio, that matters. That does matter, right? Like, which of these teams' role players are gonna play better? Ultimately, OKC's role players and bench has played much better throughout this series. So I expect them also with their experience at home in OKC to play well. Who's healthy, right? Like, Dagnold, you gotta make a decision, right? One of the decisions you see if J Dub got it, if J Dub ain't got it, you kind of gotta go away. Kind of gotta trust the guys that been doing it because J Dub ain't played much all year, let alone throughout these playoffs. Game 7? But J Dub is a champion. And I believe although he hasn't played, he's one of those guys, he can muster up something in the Game 7. He been there. That matters when you know how to do it, right? So, but they kind of need to figure that out fast. I don't think this is like, ah man, we going into the second half seeing if he find it in the second half. Not saying he can't, but I just don't know if that's what they want to go with. When they have guys that are proven, they can still win, right? It's not a situation of like, Yo, if he don't play, they don't have no chance. It's a very deep roster. And so ultimately, do you trust the depth? Or do you ride out on the same horse that you've been riding in on? Now again, been hurt, but think they gotta make that decision fast. Referees come in and allow this game to be physical, advantage OKC. Advantage OKC. OKC has shown that when the physicality is there, they can make San Antonio struggle with it a bit. Victor Wembanyama getting 1 and 2 rebounds in the first half. OKC gotta come out on that. How the refs gonna call that? I think the refs gonna let the whistles go. You have to, you gotta let these guys decide. It's too big. You gotta let these guys decide, right? Yeah. That's important. Who's making the big adjustment, Dagnall or Johnson? Neither one of them, it don't really matter. This is Game 7. This is Victor Wembanyama versus Shey Gilgeous-Alexander. That's what this is. There's no adjustment in Game 7 of the conference finals. There's no adjustment. There's no adjustment for Game 7 of the conference finals, right? I think one of the biggest adjustments that has been made this series is how they were guarding SGA, doubling every single time and crazy doubles from everywhere until like, come on, man, let's play boxes and elbows. Back to the basics. Double every now and then, keep 'em off balance. Right? I think that's been one of the biggest adjustments, but there's no adjustment for Game 7 from a coach. This is Game 7. This is players. That's what this is about. Who's gonna be Nick Young? Game 6 and 7, Game 7 with big threes and big stops on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. With big threes, big buckets, big rebounds, big stops on Victor Wembenyama. Who gonna be that guy? Draymond Green. Shai been turning the ball over more often than usual. OKC turned the ball over last game far more often than usual. Only averaged 12 turnovers a game all year. Stephon Castle up and down with the turnovers. Some games doing great, some games real loose with the ball. Who's gonna win the turnover battle? Every single one of them matters. Every possession matters. This is it, it's game 7. It could be a 90 to 86 score. Every possession matters. Who gonna win the turnover battle? And again, It's the biggest game of Victor Wembanyama's life. It's the biggest game of his life. Most would say, oh no, the gold medal game in Paris. No, it's not. This is the biggest game of his life. Because even if he won that game, it would've done a lot and it would've been incredible for the country, but it ain't gonna stamp him like winning an NBA championship will. It's the biggest game in his life right now against the two-time back-to-back MVP, the defending champs. This is the biggest game of his life. Who gonna win that battle? But it's Game 7. You gotta let it all rip. Game 7, there's no thoughts, there's no second guess. You shoot, you drive, you go. Fuck a foul, who cares? It's Game 7. It's Game 7. Most crumble. There's some that don't, but most crumble. Most crumble. I can't wait to see who gonna show up for game 7. And by the way, until you beat the champs, I'm rolling with the champs. Until you dethrone the champs, it ain't up to me to pick against 'em. It's up to San Antonio to pick against 'em. That ain't up to me. 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White peach, rainbow sherbet, strawberry watermelon, and it's sugar-free with no artificial sweeteners. Get moving with superior hydration from Liquid IV. Tear. Pour. Live more. Go to liquidiv.com and get 20% off your first purchase with code Draymond at checkout. That's 20% off your first purchase with code Draymond at liquidiv.com. Now it's time for our Sling Shot of the Night. Brought to you by Sling TV, the most flexible live TV streaming service. Watch the NBA playoffs on ESPN with a Sling 1, 3, or 7-day pass starting at $4.99. Learn more at sling.com. You knew coming into Game 6 that it had to be a Wimby game. And he set the tone with 2 straight threes to start the game. Knew his shot was going, he's feeling good. The crowd get into it. That had to be the slingshot of the night. And then I also thought that was what was very important and not quite a slingshot, but slingshotting, if you will, Carter Bryan just running into Shea and taking him out. That's intentional, guys. That's a— a demand from up above. I'm not saying it's coming from— that's coming from above Carter Bryan. And Carter Bryan saying, "I'm a soldier and I'll take him out." Gotta respect it. But who gonna take him out for OKC? That's the question I ask. Who gonna take him out? Who gonna take Victor Wembanyama out? If they gonna take Shea Gildress-Alexander out, You just gonna watch? That's our Sling Shot of the Night, brought to you by Sling TV. Sling puts the consumers in control with their flexible subscription options. Wanna watch one game or even a full series on ESPN? Grab a 1, 3, or 7-day pass starting at $4.99. If you wanna watch as many games as possible, get a monthly subscription with their combo package. Either way, Sling lets you watch the playoffs your way with no long-term contracts. Learn more at sling.com. Wanna thank you all again for tuning in to the Draymond Green Show. Draymond Green Show. We'll have a mailbag episode dropping tomorrow. Until next time, deuces. If you're rocking with the Draymond Green Show, be sure to click follow on your favorite podcast app. And while you're there, go ahead and drop a 5-star rating and leave a review. I wanna hear what you think, and it would also mean a ton to me if you share it with a friend that you think would enjoy it. Let's keep this thing growing. The Draymond Green Show is presented by Audacy and executive produced in conjunction with The New Media. Our executive producers are Leah Reese Dennis, Danny Friesinger, and Greg Holtzman. Video production and creative design by Kirk Courtney, Tim Meekle, Lauren Vieira, and Evan O'Brien. Special thanks to the team at The New Media and the team at Audacy. Maura Curran, Josephina Francis, Hillary Shuff, Eric Donnelly, Kate Rose, Collin Gaynor, and Jake Gally.