In this inaugural episode of the Draymond Green Show, Draymond Green and host Colin Cowherd break down the Eastern Conference play‑in and first‑round playoff matchups. Green opens with a passionate defense of the NBA’s play‑in format, calling it the best thing ever created despite his personal dislike of being a 10‑seed. He then predicts the Heat will defeat the 76ers, citing Jimmy Butler’s chip on his shoulder, the need to tire out Joel Embiid, and Miami’s transition‑focused pace. Moving to the Bucks‑Pacers series, Green debates how the Milwaukee front office should handle Giannis Antetokounmpo’s calf injury, emphasizing the importance of being 150 % certain he’s ready, and highlights Pascal Siakam as Indiana’s X‑factor against a Bucks team that may lack defensive intensity in the playoffs. Finally, Green evaluates the Cavs‑Magic matchup, noting the young Magic roster, Orlando’s rim‑focused style, and the dual‑star dynamic of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland for Cleveland, ultimately picking the Cavaliers to advance. Throughout, Green mixes strategic analysis, player‑specific insights, and personal anecdotes while interspersing promotional remarks.
Chapters
Welcome to the brand new Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Hit subscribe so you don't miss out on any of our content. In other play-in games, you got the Heat at the 76ers with a healthy Joel Embiid back, Tyrese Maxey. Who do you got? Jimmy Butler say, y'all took Tobias Harris over me? Y'all kept Tobias Harris over me? And Jimmy Butler is going to go into that game feeling that way. Y'all took Tobias Harris over me. One thing you should understand about Jimmy is, Jimmy is going to hold onto whatever chip on the shoulder that he can when he needs it. And he will very much so be holding onto that one again. If they win the game, he'll probably walk off the court again and say, y'all took Tobias Harris over me. 'Cause that is how Jimmy Butler is. And so that's the matchup. That's what we got. You got Bam versus Joel, you got Jimmy versus Tobias, you got Maxi versus Terry Rozier. to win one game. It is hard to pick against Joel Embiid. Very tough to pick against Joel Embiid. Both of those teams wanna avoid Boston in the first round. So if you win that game, you get into the Knicks, which I think both of those teams think they can beat the Knicks. So with both of those teams believing that, it's gonna be a bloodbath. This is two teams battling not to face the Boston Celtics. I am going to go with Miami. Reason I'm going with Miami is because you learn, if you haven't learned over the last few years, you just don't bet against Miami at this time of the year. Yeah. Don't do it, you're usually wrong. Jimmy's gonna try to get every shot that they want. If he gotta walk the ball up the court the whole game, although I think their advantage is playing in transition and trying to make Joel run. 'Cause if you, Joel's been back for 6 games, 7 games. If you can make him run and tire him out, you got a better chance. And so I think that has to be their game plan, although Jimmy likes to, get to his spots when he want. I think the pace needs to be go, go, go. And I expect Miami Heat to do that. And so I'm taking Miami in that game. And then I got Boston facing the 76ers in the first round of their series. And I actually think that's gonna be a tough match. Like if you're Boston, you're not really happy about either one of those, these teams you're facing in the first round matchup. We know the history that they've had with the Miami Heat and Jimmy Butler. And we know Joel and them are always in the battle. Now they've been taking the wins and they've won each time, but it's a battle. And so you're not really happy about facing either one of those teams in the first round. But I hate the play-in, just so you all, I absolutely hate it. It's the best thing ever created. When you look at the play-in and what it's done for basketball, it's the best thing ever created. Yeah. Like, I don't know who came up with it. I know Bron said they need to be fired. If they were fired when Bron said that, they need to get their job back because the play-in is insane. Like, since the NBA has added the play-in, it's taken the last month and a half of the season to a totally different level. Like, totally different. And so I hate the play-in. I especially hate being the 10 seed. 10 seed. But as much as I hate it as a basketball player, as a basketball fan, this play-in is nuts and you gotta love it. The matchups that we do know, we got the Bucks at 3, we got the Pacers at 6. Uncertain on the status of Giannis. We do know Giannis likes to come back like He-Man in these situations. We watch— He-Man. Yanis hyperextend his knee a couple years ago in the NBA Finals and came back and won the NBA Finals. We all thought that he was done. We know he come back like He-Man. So I do expect him at some point in this series to come back. Calf can be tricky, especially when you, you know, when you thought, you know, he was playing around with an injury around the Achilles, the calves can be a little tricky. And so how much—
Yeah.
How much emphasis, if you're the Milwaukee Bucks front office ownership group coaching staff, how much are you fighting Giannis and saying, we need to be 150% sure that you're ready to go? Because although it's not certain that Kevin Durant tore his Achilles because of the calf injury he had before, but it's also not exactly, certain or uncertain that was the case. Could have been, could have affected it or could not have. But if I'm looking at it through a lens and I'm the Milwaukee Bucks, the lens I'm looking through is that it did affect it. And so now that we have this, how much are we pressing Giannis to not play unless we're 150% sure? Because let's face it, they've struggled.
Yeah.
They've struggled bad all year. They've won games because when you got Damian Lillard, when you got Chris Middleton, when you got Giannis Antetokounmpo, you're gonna win some games in the East. It's gonna happen. But that team has not been very good all year to the standard and level that everyone thought they would be. And so are you forcing Giannis back to try to revive that and go how far? Or are you making sure he's 150% ready to play and then saying, okay, not, ah, okay, you're at a place where you can go play. No, you're 150% ready to play. Now, they've struggled with the Pacers this year. If I'm not mistaken, the Pacers beat them 5 times because of the play-in Final Four. And so—
Draymond Green.
This is a different game though. This is a different game because this is playoff time and the Pacers has not played much defense all year. Not just gonna outscore a team in the playoffs. Gotta defend. Gotta defend in the playoffs. And the Pacers has made a living this year off outscoring teams. The game slows down a bit in the playoffs. It's not just run, run, run, run, run. It slows down. You gotta play in the half court. You gotta defend in the half court. Gotta get back in transition so that you can defend in half court. But it's not just a track meet once you get to the playoffs. And all year it's been a track meet for Indiana. It's gonna be a little different in these playoffs. Giannis being out definitely affects the series. However, with Giannis out, Or not. I got the Milwaukee Bucks. However, I've given you the X factor for everybody. The X factor for Indiana and the one person they got that's gonna slow you down in the half court and just grind you out and get a bucket, it's Pascal Siakam. The addition of Pascal. Pascal's been in these situations. Pascal is an NBA champion. He knows what it takes in these situations. Pascal is an NBA champion as the number 2 option. Pascal is the number 2 option on Indiana. However, in order for them to win this series, he will have to be the number 1 option. He will have to be the number 1 option because Milwaukee's going to put Patrick Beverley on Tyrese Halliburton. Mm-hmm. He's gonna do all he can to rough him up to get under his skin. And although I think Hallie is ready for that, I think Hallie plays a good brand of basketball. This could get a little tough, playoffs, you know, it's a different physicality and he'll play well, but I just don't think he'll score at the level to be the number one option in this series for Indiana. And that's where I think Pascal needs to be the number one option in order for them to have a chance to win.
Yeah.
In the other series, we got the Cavs at the 4, Magic at the 5. Young Magic team making their first playoff appearance. It's exciting to see with them young boys, Paulo, Franz Wagner, Jaylen Suggs, young fellas, my young Spartan dog who the old head on that team, G, Gary Harris. Excited to see Jamal Tinsley has taken that team to the playoffs. Excited to see that matchup. The Cavs has been there. Donovan Mitchell's been there. Darius Garland has been there. Jared Allen's been there, although he said, man, we did not expect them lights to be that bright. We didn't expect it. They've been there. A lot of what Orlando does is at the rim. Don't shoot a ton of threes. That's not their strong suit. A lot of what they do is at the rim. Paulo getting downhill, Franz getting downhill. How much are you getting downhill with Jared Allen and Evan Mobley at the rim? Is my question for that series. And for that alone, obviously Donovan's gonna score the ball. DG to PG gonna do what he do. I got the Cavs taking this. Now, What's been interesting is Donovan has played well when Darius haven't played. Darius has played extremely well when Donovan haven't played. You got both of 'em now. In order to win at a high level, you need both of them to play well. But the, the team has played better when one or the other has been out, which I think has been interesting. 'Cause it probably leaves Cleveland with a decision to make in the summer. Possibly, possibly. Nonetheless, they need to figure the chemistry of that team out when everybody's on the floor together. In spite of that, because Orlando needs to get to the rim, I got the Cleveland Cavaliers taking that series, moving on to the second round.
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