In this inaugural episode of the Draymond Green Show, Draymond Green breaks down the opening games of the Clippers‑Mavericks playoff series, emphasizing how Kawhi Leonard’s absence reshapes the matchup. He argues that the Mavericks prepared for a Kawhi‑centric game plan, leaving them vulnerable when the star sits out, and that the Clippers can exploit this by stealing a road win to seize home‑court advantage. Green outlines specific tactical adjustments for both teams: for the Mavericks, using Daniel Gafford on Terrence Mann, fronting Zubac, and employing pick‑and‑rolls with James Harden/Luka Dončić and Zubac/Kyrie Irving; for the Clippers, leveraging Russell Westbrook’s energy, guarding Paul George aggressively, and using bigs to disrupt the Mavericks’ interior. He also predicts outcomes for other playoff series (Boston, Miami, Minnesota, Phoenix, Philadelphia) and highlights Westbrook as the remaining key for the Clippers. The episode ends with a brief DraftKings sportsbook promotion.
Chapters
Welcome to the brand new Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Hit subscribe so you don't miss out on any of our content. Clippers-Mavs, a series that I think is gonna be great. Kawhi Leonard does not play game 1 and the Clippers blast the Mavericks. I don't look too much into that. That's how the series is gonna be. One thing's for certain is I know that the Clippers, excuse me, that the Mavericks were preparing for the Clippers with Kawhi Leonard. And when you go into a game preparing for a star, excuse me, preparing for a star, and that star doesn't play, it's almost like you've prepared for a team that you're not playing against. And so Dallas is now going to that game finding out the night before that Kawhi is out. And their game plan is set up for Kawhi to be out there. They get blasted. Seen that movie before. Plenty of times, but it's in recent memory, When we played the Grizzlies the year we won championship in 2022 and Ja didn't play, we lost by 50. And then we won the next game to close the series. When you're preparing for that start, you, you're playing against a totally different team. And I think that could have affected Dallas in my opinion. Now you got one more game on the road that no Kawhi Leonard would be there. This is your chance to shift the series. Dallas is a great home team. Road players didn't play well. PJ, I love the way he was guarding Paul George, finished with 11 and 7. But the only two guys that really played well, Dante Exum looked like he didn't belong out there. Maxie Kleber looked like he didn't belong out there. Road players don't typically play well in the playoffs on the road. Now you need them to be halfway decent so you can go steal one in game 2. They'll play better at home. Don't doubt that at all. But this is your chance to go steal one on the road and take home court advantage in a series that the Mavericks is favored. They gotta go get it done. I think they gotta go get it done this game. Now you got Kyrie Irving and Luka Dončić. You can always go win a road game even with Kawhi. But I think this is a great opportunity for them to go get it done. Russell Westbrook, still I think is the key to that team. The energy that he brings. James Harden's capable of having a night like that. You know, that's, that's what you run into against these Clippers. Kawhi's out. James is capable of giving you a night. Russ is capable of giving you a night. And so that's what makes this Clippers team dangerous. Paul George gotta go in there in the second half. You don't wanna see that. Start hitting tough shots. He gonna come out firing in game 2. with the way that he finished game 1. So that series, that's a fun series. What adjustments can the Clippers make? I think, I think the Clippers, what the Clippers, excuse me, what the Mavericks can do is I think they can put big Daniel Gafford on Terrence Mann. Terrence Mann is a good defender. He's hounding their guys. You play off him, plug off him, make him shoot. Ain't wanna look at the rim all year. Make him shoot. They struggle with Zubac and you put big Daniel Gafford on Terrence Mann. You just stand at the rim, brother. Terrence Mann hit 10 threes, great. We should've lost, but he go guard him. You gotta put somebody now on Zubac and you just front Zubac with that guy and you play Daniel Gafford behind. Front Zubac, Zubac gave them problems. Now Daniel Gafford's in rebounding position.
Mm-hmm.
Zubac had a lot of rebounds and Terrence, you play Terrence Mann off the floor, that's their defender. You play him off the floor, make things easier for Luka. He's picking him up full court every time. Now you got Paul George, Russ, and those guys having to guard Luka, taking a little lay legs for the offensive end, you know? And so— I think you can do that. I think that's adjustment that, that, that the Mavericks can make. That may win you 1 or 2 games. I don't think that'll win you the whole series because then they'll take Terrence Mann out and you gotta make another adjustment. But I think that's something that they can do for themselves, especially with Kawhi not in the game. It also helps you load up and be ready to double team Paul George and James Harden. Now you get James Harden off the 3-point line, you force him to the rim because we know he got 2 guys built in. Mm-hmm. So could possibly play Zubac off the floor because now if you take him away offensively, if you could play, I'm putting pick and roll. Also, I think for me offensively, if I'm the Mavericks, I'm putting James Harden in pick and rolls with Luka and I'm putting Zubac in pick and rolls with Kyrie. Now Kyrie's more dynamic. See, Luka's gonna get to where he get to get a shot.. But Kyrie is more mixing Zubac, making him have to move and making him struggle. And that way you could possibly play him off the floor. And so that's just a couple things I see in that Clippers-Mavs series that could possibly be taken advantage of for the Mavs. If you Clippers, you feeling good about game 1, especially with no Kawhi, trying to buy time. Much time as you can buy, the better for Kawhi. So that's the Clippers and— Draymond Green. The Mavericks, Boston, we don't even need to talk about. That is not looking good for Boston. I mean, for the Heat, they need Jimmy bad. I don't see the Heat winning the game without Jimmy Butler. Boston is too good for them without Jimmy. So we're not gonna talk much about that. And I think that is a wrap. So as we move forward, the home teams that I got, not winning. Their next game is Clippers. I think the Mavs take game 2 and get that series started. Boston will win. I think Philly goes in and get game 2, get that series started. And then I think everyone else goes up 2-0. It's a big game for Minnesota. You do not wanna go to Phoenix 1-1. You wanna go to Phoenix 2-0, rolling off the— rolling off game 1. Gotta go get it done. Maybe you get a big game from Carl Anthony Towns, as Anthony Edwards said, but I'm still expecting M.A. to carry the load there. That's a wrap from this episode of the Draymond Green Show. Tap in next, later this week, we'll be chopping it up about more games. Peace.
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