Luka Doncic vs. Goga Bitadze Heated Altercation, March Madness Upsets & Thunder/Wizards Brawl

What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. On today's show, I'll get into some of the headlines that I've taken note of over the past few days, including the first wild weekend of the NCAA tournament. Another brawl breaking out. I told you all these things are becoming common. And then also Luka Dončić and Goga Bitadze beef, which I have a pretty interesting perspective on, but we'll get into that in the show. Let's get right into it. The Draymond Green Show is proudly presented by Grooms. Grunz proves that you can do the least and still feel the most, thanks to a delicious daily habit that does the heavy lifting. Save up to 52% off with code Draymond at grunz.co. That's code Draymond at grunz.co. Obviously in our last game we played the Atlanta Hawks, which is our first time playing against the Hawks since the J.K. Buddy Hill trade. And, you know, number one, it was great to see those guys. Got a chance to have dinner with JK after the game, which was great. Got a chance to spend some time with Buddy. Man, you know, it's the business of basketball, man. You spend so much time with the guys over the years, building relationships, and then it all just kind of ends like that, except the relationship doesn't end. Yeah. But, you're with someone every day and then not at all, you know? And so it was great to see those guys, man. Buddy Hill still, still Buddy Hill, funny as hell. Great energy in the room at all times. And JK, man, it was interesting just sitting there chopping it up with him and hearing his perspective on everything. Hearing, you know, I think beautiful thing about when I listen to Jonathan Kamehameha is like, I'm not listening to— Mm-hmm. Kind of what everyone else is listening to, you know what I'm saying? I'm listening to someone speak and I'm watching the maturation of a young man, you know, over the last 4 years, 4, man, 4 hot years. Yeah. And just watching his maturation process, how he processes things, his vision on things, how he's looking at, you know, how he's, approaching different decisions in his life. It was a beautiful thing to see. And I was happy as hell to have the opportunity to break bread with him. You know, I take my relationship with the young guys very serious. I take relationships in general seriously. But anytime you have an opportunity to build a relationship with the young guys, I take that very seriously. I honor it. It's important. You know, it's— It's a relationship. The young guy that comes in the NBA today is different than the young guy that came into the NBA 10 years ago. And getting to know the young guy that comes in the NBA today is a completely different experience and one that requires you to put work in. And so when you put that work in and you're able to build the relationships, I really, really, really truly embrace that, you know? And so it was great seeing those guys. Obviously we didn't, We didn't win. The struggle continues. But nonetheless, basketball is not always about winning or losing. Tell someone who believes that shit that, because I don't. But anyway, the relationships was great to see them. Great to see Onsi. You know, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed that. And then there was the viral moment. —of me looking up for the Hogs banners. You know, I, um, you go into these arenas that don't have huge fan bases, if you will, and they kind of create this new thing. They kind of create these, uh, these kind of student sections. And, you know, they usually sit pretty high up. And so the student section was chanting to me for a while, Draymond sucks, Draymond sucks. And— You know, after a while I just kind of looked up at their banners, you know, the history of their organization. And I just found it hard for them to yell, "Draymond sucks," because I was looking at the history of the organization. And so, you know, once I start trying to open my eyes a little wider to get a glimpse of the long history of the Hawks, they kind of started to shut up. And that was a fun moment for me. Fun moment for the crowd. Fun moment for the arena. Great times, great times nonetheless. You know, you got Onsi running the show over there. You got, you know, a couple of my young fellas over there. So I'm actually rooting for the Hawks to do well. So I wanna put that out there. You know, when you build relationships and it goes back to building relationships, when you build relationships with people, you want to see them do well. And so unfortunately for the Hawks fans, I had to shut them up because that's what I do. But they should know I'm not rooting against them. I got people over there, I wanna see them do well. And so next time they should just shut up. But it was a fun time nonetheless. Got to see 2 Chainz, you know, the staple, the fixture at the game. So that was fun as well. And then coming from Atlanta, we were on a back-to-back from Detroit playing against the Pistons. The Pistons without K Cunningham. Yeah. Still a tough team. Still, you know, still play with the same identity. Obviously not having Cade Cunningham out there changes things on the offensive end pretty dramatically. But nonetheless, still a good team. They still stick to who they are. I tell y'all what, man. Jalen Duren gotta be one of the strongest guys I've ever played in my career. I have spoke, a while back about Jalen Duren being strong coming into the league, but not really knowing how to use the strength, but he wasn't soft. He just didn't really know how to apply the strength. Well, I'm here to tell you something 3, 4 years later. He's by far the strongest player in the NBA. Dude's strong as hell. And he knows how to use it now. Nonetheless, it was fun playing against those guys. Always great having the opportunity to go back home and play and see people that have cheered for me my whole life. You get a lot of people coming down from Saginaw. Obviously I've been all through the state of Michigan, spending a lot of time in Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham area throughout the course of my later life as I got late high school, college, NBA. You know, just a lot of people that I've built relationships with over the years, and you get the opportunity to play back at home in front of them, see my family, get to see my grandmother, which is always great. So, always an honor to play in Detroit. Obviously you want to come out of there with a win, but that didn't happen for us. But in particular, this Pistons team without Cade though, number one, I just want to see Cade get back. Yeah. Draymond Green, um, guy who's put the work in. I wanna see him get back out there, uh, with the opportunity to make All-NBA First Team, opportunity to still be in the MVP race. Like, I want that for him. And then also, man, you don't know how many, how often you, times you get the number one seed. Um, injuries happen, unforeseen things take place, and it can derail opportunities fast. And so, I want Cade back out there so they can fulfill whatever it is that their destiny is this year. And then not be taken away by injury, their main guys not being out there on the floor. Isaiah Stewart's recovering from an injury, wanna see him get back out there. You know, those guys have put a lot of work in and you talking Stewart and Cade, like they've been there through the shit years. You know, losing 24 games in a row. So to see them or something of that nature. So to see them have this opportunity as the number one seed, in the NBA, um, excuse me, in the Eastern Conference right now. I want to see them have the opportunity to go into a playoffs healthy with that number 1 seed and, and see them roll the dice and what they can come away with. So, uh, rooting for those guys, uh, still a good team, but obviously you lose an MVP candidate, it's going to get tougher. After the break, we'll take a deep dive, give my reactions on the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. We'll be back right after this. As promised, now we will do the tournament check-in. So it is March Madness, and of course when it is March Madness, we will have what? We will have some upsets. And yes, there were some upsets. The first round, we had 11 VCU beat UNC, which led to a lot of talks about UNC possibly having to get rid of one of their former players. And Hubert Davis. They just have not had the success that UNC is accustomed to having. And it's been a while now. Now granted, you lose potential number one pick in Caleb Wilson, who is not only your best player, but he's also the heart and soul of the team. He's the energy behind the team. He is the attitude behind the team. You lose that guy, things are gonna get tough. Kinda goes without saying what we were just saying at the top of the show, which is you lose an MVP candidate, Kay Cunningham, things are gonna get tougher. You're UNC, you lose Caleb Wilson, things are going to get tough. And so it was going to be tough for Carolina anyway. They were having a good year, obviously, but you lose a talent like that, a guy who believes, a guy who brought belief back into a program, it's going to get tough. And Carolina wasn't able to take care of VCU, bounced in the first round of the tournament. It'll be interesting to see what happens. I saw— Someone say, man, it just sucks that the Jordan school can't compete in the NIL era. We should be willing to do anything we can to compete in the NIL era. And that is true. The reality is the NIL has changed it for a lot of schools. Schools that used to dominate, now other teams are able to play in the ballpark with money and different things. It's changed things a bit in the NCAA. And so— Yeah. Different day and age in the NIL. We also had another upset. High Point beat Wisconsin. High Point, for those that don't know, is in High Point, North Carolina. High Point has a pretty good NIL budget. They're actually able to go steal players from Power Five schools due to their NIL budget. I hear something along the lines of their president has done very well for himself and donates to the school. I don't know that to be true. That's what I've heard. But nonetheless, they beat Wisconsin, who I thought would be a tough out because they have great guard play. And when you have great guard play in the NCAA tournament, you're usually a tough out. Needless to say, High Point does the unthinkable, 12 seed beating a 5 seed and takes care of Wisconsin in the first round. Second round, we also have some upsets. Number 9 Iowa beats the defending champions Florida. Ah. Shout out to my young fella, Will Richard, the rook. Big Al Horford, Big Gator and Lil Gator is what we call them. Yeah, man, weren't quite able to defend that national title at a high level. Second round exit to the Big Ten, Iowa Hawkeyes. I must say I didn't see that one. I did not see that one coming. I thought Florida had a chance to make a run. Quite honestly, I don't think their guard play lived up to what we thought their guard play would be coming into the season. And again, when I say in the NCAA tournament you need great guard play, I don't think Florida guards play— Florida's guard play ever lived up to what it was supposed to be for what they spent on it in the NIL. I just don't think it reached the level. It definitely didn't reach the level of Walter Clayton Jr. and Will Richard and who Florida just won championship with in the backcourt a year ago. It definitely never got near that level. And in turn, you see a first round exit. Another upset, 11 Texas beat 3 Gonzaga. Now here's the thing, Texas is a powerhouse. Yes, they were in the first 4, but they're doing it, man. And Gonzaga, I didn't believe, I wasn't very high on all year. They play in the West Coast Conference. I'm a big fan of Coach Few, what he's built there. But I thought they were a bit overrated all year. And it came back to show against a Texas team who hasn't been great that year yet, handles their business in the second round, send number 3 Gonzaga on home. You look at those first 4 games and if you have a good team like Texas, you know, you get big schools like Texas get in there, it jumpstarts the run and now they're headed to the Sweet 16 from the first 4. They beat NC State, beat BYU, beat Gonzaga. It's a good resume right there. We also had some buzzer beaters. Kentucky takes down the Brandon Pazimski Santa Clara. I don't know their nickname, but they go down to Kentucky. I'm a buzzer beater. Weird end of the game. Letting a guy get threes off. I always think that's weird. You gotta go the full length of the court and you could go and fire. Foul, you're up 3, foul. Nonetheless, Santa Clara's headed home. Kentucky's now headed home due to a second round loss, but buzzer beater. Vanderbilt, Nebraska, another buzzer beater. Man, Nebraska keeps their season alive. Their first ever Sweet 16. You know, Fred Hoiberg's done an incredible job there. And you know, they did what they had to do to beat Vanderbilt. Quite honestly, I was happy to see Nebraska beat Vanderbilt. Shout out to my guy Stack. And then St. John's and Kansas. The St. John's and Kansas game was an interesting one down the stretch because I thought to have 2 or 3 fouls and foul all the way up to 6 where you're now in the penalty. Where you can't defend, you can't use your hands because if you use your hands and they call a foul, it's 1 and 1. I thought Bill Self fouling that much, like I understood the theory behind the fouls. And I actually think it was a good theory to run some clock. But let them run a little more clock, then take the foul. Also. So you're just not fouling, fouling, fouling. And so you get it down to 4 seconds left. And the guy who's guarding the ball can't put any ball pressure on the ball because he can't take the chance to foul. And so I thought going, like putting yourself in a penalty, I didn't think that was smart. Now maybe you get the 5 fouls and then you play it out and then that way if you need a foul you take, but. To just foul right up to the penalty. Like he, everybody's like, oh man, he gave up a straight line drive. You can't give up a straight line drive. Yes, you're correct. You can't give up a straight line drive. But how stupid do they look if he all of a sudden now he's sitting down, he guard, they fouled all the way into the penalty and then he mistakenly bumps the guy, the guy fall over and get free throws. How crazy does that kid look? And so I think it was ridiculous. To foul that much to go into the penalty and then have to play defense on this last possession in the penalty and can't use your hands, can't do anything. I think that was crazy. Ultimately it cost him the game. Guy drives straight down the lane to his right hand. Now granted, he was a left-hand player, gets a right-hand finish. Guy hadn't hit a shot all night. One thing I hate is, you know, this guy hadn't hit a shot all night. He hit one shot and everybody's like, oh man, he's the hero. Yeah. Bryce Hopkins was the hero. Bryce Hopkins made every play down the stretch, every shot down the stretch that he needed to make. So shout out to him, transfer from Providence at St. John's. Shout out to him. He carried that team. He had that team in position. Yes, the point guard made the play, the bucket at the end, but it was Bryce Hopkins who carried that team and ultimately Patino to— His fourth, his fourth time being in the Final Four, fourth different school taken to a Sweet 16. So shout out to Coach Patino and the St. John Red Storm is their name. I remember that Larry Wright with the St. John. Shout out to the Johnnies. In other news, we spoke about High Point a little bit. Their coach, Flynn Clayman, calls out high major schools for not scheduling them. It'll be interesting to see, you know, team now upset some people. Ain't nobody scheduling y'all next year either, Coach. So enjoy it, try to do it again, Coach. And maybe you go somewhere where you gotta schedule High Point and then you schedule them because people gonna get more and more afraid, especially after seeing Miami of Ohio get in the tournament. Didn't have a strong schedule but had a great year. I think more people gonna do that scheduling, but we'll see how it happens. And last but not least, my Spartans are back in the Sweet 16. Shout out to to the homie, the OG, Charles Barkley, Sir Charles, the love he gave Coach Izzo, because those are facts, man. If you don't wanna go to, if you don't wanna be coached, Michigan State ain't the place for you. But if you wanna win and you wanna be coached by a great coach, Tom Izzo, best in the business. Shout out to Coach Izzo, headed back to the Sweet 16. Last but not least, we'll move around the association. Another brawl breaks out. Between the Thunder and Wizards. 4 players was ejected, AJ Mitchell, Kayson Wallace, Anthony Gill, and Justin Champagnie. Mitchell and Champagnie were each suspended for 1 game. The other 3 guys were fined $25,000, $35,000. These fights are starting to happen more and more. What I will say is, and what I can appreciate about the NBA is, I think they've been a lot more lenient on suspensions. I think they've been a lot more lenient on fines. So I gotta give James Jones credit in doing that. Not just coming in trying to take money outta players' pocket. NBA is a very emotional game. Things happen in games. You're starting to see tempers flaring over, you know, going over the edge. That happens. If you wanna pull all the emotion out the game, then y'all cry about the game being boring and guys not competing. So can't have it both ways. You're getting this type of energy. It's what happens. It's what comes with it. And I respect it. So shout out to James Jones. And letting the game grow, letting the game be physical. And sometimes when the game does that, Things happen. Uh, you move on. These aren't disturbances that's causing a bunch of uproar. Things happen throughout the course of competition battle and you keep it pushing. So, sure, that's those young guys' first suspension. Welcome to the club, brothers. Luka Dončić received his 16th technical foul in Orlando. Uh, the NBA has since rescinded it. Uh, Goga Bitadze trash talking Luka at the foul line and Luka said, at the free throw line that Matazi said he would fuck his whole family up. And at some point, I can't stand for that. I gotta stand up for myself. Robert Horry goes on the show and brings me up in the conversation. Maybe, I think he wanted some attention. So everybody, let's get Robert Horry the attention that he deserves. But I don't know what I had to do with this. Haha. But anyway, he said, I always laugh because I've always seen certain players, I'm not gonna call no names, cough, cough, Draymond Green that says things to the refs and they let it slide. But when you say things to other players, there's no pushing or shoving, you wanna call a double tech on the player. Stop taking money outta players' pocket. Robert Horry, I am in favor of not taking money outta players' pockets. I am not sure how you ended up with my name in this statement because Yeah, it just don't really like fit the conversation. Number one, I don't talk about people's family. I talk a lot of shit on the basketball court. You can ask a lot of guys the things that I say. I don't talk about guys' family. I have in one instance in my career, and it wasn't about, it wasn't about family, like relationship stuff. And this guy I thought had went way over the edge and gloves came off. But I'm not one to talk about families. I don't do that. I think there are certain lines you don't cross because no one's gonna come on the court to talk about my family. That line won't be crossed. So respect Luka for standing up to that because that's not something you back down from. Certain things shouldn't come on the basketball court. And family is one of them. I'm not a fan of family. Being mentioned on the basketball court, guys, ladies being mentioned on the basketball court, guys, kids being— that don't work for me. I just don't play those types of games. So again, Robert Horry bringing my name up, I'm not sure what point he was trying to make. I think he just wanted to say my name. It didn't quite land that well because it didn't enhance the story. I know my name, enhances a lot of people's story. Unfortunately, with this one, I just don't quite see how it made its way. But thanks for the shout-out, I suppose, Robert Horry. I guess. I suppose. Draymond Green has memorized all of his teammates' astrology and numerology in order to better learn how to communicate with them. He said, "I learned communication styles that work best for each individual and started utilizing that when I speak to each and every guy." I'm not learning any astrology or numerology, but I do understand where Jaylen Brown is coming from. One thing Coach Izzo taught me at a young age was in order to be a leader, you have to lead individuals. You can't just go and say, man, I'm about to lead this team and everybody, this is how I'm doing it. You have to find which buttons to push with each guy. And so I understand the theory. I think it's a very interesting one. But I definitely understand the theory of Jaylen Brown trying to get to know his teammates better and trying to see what communication style fits each guy. Because it's gonna be different. One guy you need to yell at, one guy you need to whisper to. One guy you need to tell him he's the best in the world. One guy you need to tell him he shit and need to pick it up. And that's just kind of the nature of what we do. So shout out to Jaylen Brown taking that next step in his leadership. Tari Eason's mom reached out to Lethal Shooter to help Tari., the shooter slump, who had been 1 for 28 from 3 and 27 for 85 overall in March. Uh, quite the shooter slump, especially for a guy who is in a contract year, who kind of bet on himself, uh, and is in a contract year. So, uh, we'll see if he can pick that back up, but sometimes, man, it just becomes mental. So hopefully he don't get to the point to where, you know, it's mental for him. But his mom said, y'all are so scared. I'm not. He knows he's not shooting well. The man said he made Ja Rule into a shooter in 2 hours today. So my son should be Steph Curry by the playoffs. Mama Easton, I'm here to tell you, your son can spend every waking minute in the gym till the playoffs. Ain't nobody gonna be Steph Curry, Mama Easton. But shout out to the young fellow. Hope he can figure it out. I wanna see everybody get paid. Don't wanna see them try to use it against him at the negotiation table. In other news of Houston Rockets, KD passes MJ for 5th all-time on the all-time scoring list at 32,294 points. Man, that's a lot of buckets. Shout out to KD. One of the greatest scorers we've ever seen. Anytime you could pass Michael Jordan in anything is special. I know how much of a basketball purist KD is, how much work he put into the game. So great to see him passing MJ. And then also another passing, LeBron passes the Chief Robert Parish for most regular season games played, 1,612. So shout out to those guys, man. The longevity that both of those guys have had, continuing to break records, continuing to rewrite what longevity means in the NBA. Still playing at the levels they're playing at in year 19 and 23 respectively. Shout out to those guys, man. After the break, we have another edition of Spartan Days. Be back right after this. If you're needing that energy boost and also love sweets, there is a new 5-Hour Energy shot called Fruity Rainbow. You know what's underrated? Caffeine that actually tastes fun. I feel like for years we just accepted that energy had to taste— fun? But the new Fruity Rainbow shots from 5-Hour Energy completely changed that. These deliver an explosion of fruity flavor with a tasty caffeine kick. And I mean explosion. It tastes like those sweet, colorful rainbow candies you used to love, except this one actually helps you power through your to-do list. Caffeine just got a serious flavor upgrade. And here's the cool part: 5-Hour Energy Shots now come in 17 flavors. 17. So whether you're in a fruity mood or wanna mix it up, there's an option waiting for you. But the fruity rainbow launch? It's bold, nostalgic, and just chaotic in the best way. All that big flavor is packed into a tiny portable 2-ounce bottle. It fits in your pocket, your bag, your car cup holder. No bulky cans, no sugar overload. It's a zero-sugar treat that's totally sweet tooth approved. So you get the fun without the crash. If your energy boost could use a little personality, this is it. Get candy flavor chaos with Fruity Rainbow 5-Hour Energy Shots, available online at 5hourenergy.com or Amazon. Espármame. Espármame. We will get into Spartan Days, which is a rendition of our Golden Days segment that we've been doing all year. We are doing Spartan Days because as you all know, Spartan— the Spartans, the Michigan State Spartans are beloved. To me, it's near and dear to my heart, and I am a Spartan. If you cut me open, it may look a little unhealthy 'cause I do bleed green. It is NCAA tournament time, and with that, we are taking it back to Spartan Days. The memories of things that happened in my time at Michigan State Uh, and today's— if you, if you want to be featured in our Spartan Days segment, the rest of the NCAA tournament, go to draymondgreen@audacy.com. Maybe we'll take a few questions next episode so that we can get some more questions in before the NCAA tournament ends. But today's question comes from Mike, uh, his memory. Hey Draymond, I'm so pumped for our Spartans and love that you picked them to go all the way. You better believe it. I recently saw that you are the only player in NCAA history to record two triple doubles. One against UCLA and one against Long Island. Can you take us through those games and what it means to have that legacy considering there has only been 10 triple-doubles total in NCAA tournament history? You know, Mike, you know, I never really set out to get triple-doubles in the NCAA tournament, but I think I was playing at a very high level and I did all the things on the court. I scored the ball, rebounded the ball, got my teammates involved through the pass. It's great, you know, to be the only, what I will say is I'm the only player in NBA history with 2 official triple doubles, excuse me, in NCAA history with 2 official triple doubles in the NCAA tournament. And if I'm honest, if I'm honest with you, Mike, one of them was against UCLA in a game in which we lost. Yes, I played great, but we lost the game. So I'm not too fond of that one. The LIU Brooklyn one, you know, fond of that one. We took care of business, you know, played a great game and moved on in the tournament. But the UCLA one didn't quite feel that great. Yes, it felt great to put up those numbers. Yes, you know, historically do those things, of course, but losing early in the NCAA tournament just didn't sit well with me. So— Yeah. That one, that one stung a bit. In saying that, there's only been 10 total triple-doubles in tournament history. So to have 2 of those is a huge honor. I was, you know, I always tell young guys who come into the league that won the NCAA championship, I envy them. 'Cause I didn't get the opportunity to win a championship. Needless to say, to leave your mark in some form or fashion on the NCAA tournament, pretty much any time anyone has a triple-double, my name is mentioned, I think that's a pretty cool thing. And I try to watch all the tournament games. So with that being said, um, it's an honor, but I would trade it all for an NCAA National Championship. I wanna thank you all again for tuning in to the Draymond Green Show. We got Dallas, uh, coming up and then we are headed back home. Uh, it feel like this trip has been ongoing since Houston. So. Yeah. I'm ready to get home. Till next time, that's a wrap from this episode of the Draymond Green Show. 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 Curt 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, Colin Gaynor, and Jake Gally.