Warriors-Nuggets reaction: "Jokic gave me hell" + breaking down NBA MVP race | Draymond Green Show

What's up everybody? Welcome to the Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. Make sure you like the post that you love, but you can get everything the Draymond Green Show right on our YouTube channel. So make sure you subscribe, check that out. Thank you. What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. We are recording this Sunday night after a tough loss, man. That one, versus the Nuggets. We'll talk about this game, we'll talk about the MVP race, we'll talk about the Western Conference playoff battle slash race. Jackson and I were laughing starting this episode because my night nurse is in there sleeping and she's snoring and I wonder if the mic's gonna pick it up. So if it does pick it up, y'all get a special episode today. But by the way, Night Nurse, she's amazing. Incredible. And she's been great for my wife and I with the baby. So shout out to her. But I hope y'all catch that. I hope the microphone picks that up. Anyway, make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel, youtube.com/@DraymondGreenShow. Make sure you go subscribe, check that out. And let's talk about a few things.

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Number 1, the Dubs, as I said, lost to the Nuggets 103-119, and it was just kind of like one of those games that you kind of just gotta flush. That's a very good team. That's why they are defending champions. And if we were to meet that team in the playoffs, I think there are some adjustments that we can make that can put us right in position to win. But that's a great team.

Yeah.

Joker 32-16, and 16 gave me complete hell tonight. I've had my fair share of good matchups against Joker. I've given him a little bit of hell on some nights, but he gave me total and complete hell tonight, and I had absolutely no answers. And I'm just gonna laugh about it because either you laugh or you cry. And so I'm gonna laugh about it. Absolutely no answers tonight. And I mean, he was brilliant and he is in incredible shape, man. Y'all should have saw this man running the floor. I had to like turn on my burners a little bit a couple times to like keep up with him from running the floor. And he was just going, man. It wasn't like he got tired. Like he was just going and going. And man, shout out to Joker. It's always fun playing against him. I wanted to, I got a lot of respect for Joker. Always have. I love the way he go about his business. Obviously a great basketball player. And Joker caught me with the shoulder in the chin and they didn't call offense a foul. And I wrapped him up and we was coming back down the court. And he was like, "Brother, that was definitely a foul." He was like, "100% a foul." He's like, "But I didn't try to on purpose." And I'm like, "No, I know you didn't try to on purpose." which is why I didn't foul you hard and just kind of wrapped you up because I know you didn't try it on purpose. I love playing against the guys where there's a mutual respect of like the work that you put in, the work that I put in. There's a healthy competition. And that's, so I always enjoy the honor of playing against Joker, a guy that I got a tremendous amount of respect for. And— You gotta love playing against the greats to see how you stack up and you learn from it. And so like I said, tonight he got the absolute best of me and they won the game. But I had no answers, zero answers tonight. And I'm all right with that. It happens to the best of us. I feel like I've been doing very well defensively. I had no answers tonight.

Yeah.

And so the next time we played them, which will be in the playoffs, like you remember that and you like, all right, I know I did this and that was all wrong. So I'm gonna try these things now because against great players, like they're always improving. And really the last time I really played Joker was last year. I don't think I played against him many times this year. So guys like that is always improving and you have to figure other things out as a defender, you know? I didn't get it figured out tonight, and that's okay. Jamal Murray also had a very good game. And, you know, Joker and Jamal Murray in the pick and roll is devastating. It's one of the toughest covers, if not the toughest cover in the league. Steph and I are probably in that category for totally different reasons. Obviously because of Steph, and I'm a great screener, and then I make some plays out there, you know, the whole thing.

Yeah.

Um, before y'all like, oh, Draymond, you're not Joker. Like, of course I'm not Joker, and I'm not claiming to be Joker. So before you go there, it's dead. Um, but anyway, uh, that pick-and-roll combination, um, it really got them going. Uh, once they was able to start connecting on that, Jamal started hitting a couple shots. You gotta help a little more. Hit Joker on the pop-back 3, and it was kind of dominoing from there. Went into the half tied up 61-61, but they had taken total control of the game. And came out of the half, they came out, they went up 75-65, went up 10 points. And then we battled back, got it to 4. And you know, we never really got control of the game again. I think we took a lead at some point again maybe, but we never really like gained ground again. They kind of dominated the game from that point. So you gotta give them guys a lot of credit. I thought we did some good things defensively. Aaron Gordon is still playing great basketball. He's, Aaron Gordon has grown so much since that playoff series 2 years ago when we played against those guys. The player that he is today is so much different and better and more physical than he was then. And you know, you get in the playoffs sometimes and the playoffs will shock you. And the physicality will shock you. And I think the physicality of the playoffs against Aaron Gordon in 2022 shocked him. Now think about it, he had been in Orlando most his career, never really played a bunch of meaningful basketball, and then you kind of get thrown into that. And I think it shocked the hell out of him. Well, some people get shocked and they never recover, but those that do recover get better. And Aaron Gordon is a part of that group. Yeah.— a totally different player, physical as hell. And in 2022, you weren't really worried about his physicality. He physical as hell. Like, he is seeking contact on rebounds. He is seeking contact on post-ups. Way more physical. And I think a lot of that stemmed from the '22 playoffs where he was like, "Oh no, I'm coming back better. I'm coming back different. I'm coming back stronger. Coming back more physical." And he did that. And they won a championship in large part due to what he brought to that team last year. And he's still bringing that. So, you know, lot of respect for Aaron Gordon as a champion. That's a different man. And you gotta respect that. Steph obviously had a tough shooting night. 6 for 19. Those happen. Y'all, you know, they did a good job defending him. I thought Joker did a great job in the pick and roll, guarding the pick and roll today. Pop, you screen Pop and he never, like there are screen magnets in this league and Pop's kind of complete opposite. Like you screen Pop, number one, he's hard to screen. Number two, if you screen him, even if you hold the screen, he don't just die and stand there. He's still gonna go back chasing Steph. And I thought they did a good job with their coverage. Klay came off the bench firing in the first half and I think it's on me. I gotta do a better job of making sure he get more touches in the second half. Although our minutes don't match up as much as they did before, I think it's still my role on this team to make sure that he is getting more shots in the second half. And, you know, missed a couple, but they weren't as consistent as I thought they needed to be in order for him to stay in the groove that he was in. So that falls on me. I got absolutely destroyed by Joker. That falls on me. So pretty much this loss falls on me. And I'm going to take this loss, I'm going to flush it down the toilet, and we're going to move on to Washington, and we're going to go get back on the winning track, and we're going to go have a great road trip. That is what I am switching my focus to. Um, Jackson wants to know what Joker and I were laughing at. Uh, what we were laughing at is I went up to him, I said, hey, can you do my podcast? Can you really do the podcast? Can you do the podcast? And I don't know if any of y'all saw the clip, of Joker at All-Star with Andre Iguodala asking about the podcast and Joker's running from him. And so I was kind of making light of that and he said, "Oh my God, brought that out. I'm a bad person. I'm a really bad, I'm a bad person. I'm a really bad person for that." So I thought that was, that's what we were laughing at. I thought it was hilarious. You've never seen Joker on the podcast. I haven't. Maybe y'all have. I haven't seen it. And if you did, it was probably about horses. It was not about the Denver Nuggets or no basketball game. But that was that. On to the Western Conference playoff race. We've all had a frustrating experience buying tickets. Even me. You all know I love to go to concerts, shows, and it can be hard to find last-minute tickets. 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Last-minute tickets, lowest price, Guaranteed. Uh, the Mavericks, Lakers, Warriors, Pelicans, and Clippers lose today. Nuggets, Suns, Kings win. Uh, the 1 through 4 seeds are separated by 2 games. The 5 through 10 seeds are separated by 4 games. And at this point in the season is kind of when you start paying attention to the standings because you know Like we got 25 games left, you know, like every one of 'em matters and every day matters. And you get on the run right now, somebody lose a few, things can change in a heartbeat. So right now is when you really start diving in, paying attention what's going on around the league, who lost tonight, who won. And tonight would've been a huge night for us to win with the teams losing that did. Needless to say, we did not take advantage of that. It's not the end of the world, uh, but now you got to go on this road trip and maybe win one or two that you're technically not supposed to win. And that's okay. I think we're more than capable of doing that, and guys are going to be locked in and focused on that. Hopefully we'll get Chris back, um, on Tuesday. I hope. I don't know that to be factual. Uh, if not Tuesday, hopefully we get him back Thursday. If not Thursday, maybe Friday. And if not Friday, hopefully by Sunday. No, but honestly, it will be good to get CP back. In the lineup and I know, you know, he's eager to get back out there, you know, and it's that time of year where the competitors wanna play. Like you wanna be out there, you know, it's after the All-Star break, you get that win and you know it's time to gear up for the playoffs and this is what we going for and playing for. So this is a fun time of year and I think you're gonna see guys locked in all around the league. Yeah. Just knowing like what's ahead. And then you'll also see some teams start shipping their cars off to Miami and their summer home in LA. And like, you got some of that coming up in the next couple weeks too. You know, maybe a little Charlotte, little Charlotte action, you know, little Detroit, little Detroit action, you know. You start to see those teams like start shipping their cars off. You know, that's just how it goes. Then you start to see some teams gearing up, like, "All right, this is what we going for." The pretenders and the contenders. It is that time of year. And so, you know, pay attention. All of a sudden you see one guy's Instagram story and it's like a moving truck in front of their house already in Charlotte. You like, "Oh man, like what's going on?" They ready to get on up outta here. Shout out to my young boy Miles. I love Miles. That's my young dog. A lot of respect for Brandon Miller too. That kid is gonna be really good. But back to the Western Conference playoff race. I'm getting off track a little bit. Let me lock back in. So we are looking at the standings now. Well, at least I am. This is the time of year that I do. And you really start paying attention. We got some games. I know we still got the Pelicans coming to town. We still got the Lakers at least one more time. We're done with the Kings. I think we got the Clippers at least one more time. So, you know, you're gonna— we're done with the Suns. Finished with the Nuggets. We got the Mavericks maybe 3 times. And so, you know, you can make your hay, you know, you can kind of can control what you can control, but you need to win those games. And then some of those games you lose 'em and it's like losing 2 games because you're losing to that specific team. So we gotta make sure we're locked in, winning all the games we need to win. But also in those games in specific, those are big games and you need to be locked in for 'em, so.

Yeah.

The Western Conference playoff race is heating up and the Eastern Conference race is very interesting, which we'll get into with the MVP race. So the MVP race right now, Joker is the favorite on DraftKings. SGA, Luka, Giannis, and Tatum the next four. And I guess after tonight, if even if I didn't want to agree that Joker was the favorite, which, I didn't disagree with that at all before tonight, but if I wanted to agree— if I wanted to disagree with that after tonight, you kind of can't say a word. You kind of got to be like, yeah, like, it's him, because he got the best of me tonight, as I told y'all. But anyway, um, I think it's very interesting to see where Shay has jumped. Uh, Lucas at 3, Giannis slipped some, and Tatum JT, man. JT just, yeah. The Celtics are 7.5 games ahead of the number 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. Do people think the Celtics are that great to where Jayson Tatum is only in 5th? Because it seems as if the, like the, you know, sometimes it's like that team is winning and that guy's the best player and playing well. And like, in this situation, clearly that's not the goalpost. Like, clearly the goalpost has shifted dramatically. Because in this guy's case, he's 5th and they got a 7.5-game lead in the conference. That goalpost is moving on JT. I don't know what JT gotta do. I do know what JT gotta do. I told y'all last time what JT gotta do. Yeah. JT will not be taken serious for the MVP until he win a championship. And it just hasn't been that way for everybody else. I must say, was not that way for Joker. It's not that way for Giannis. It's not that way for Joel. It just ain't really been that way for everybody else. So I don't know how it ended up that way for JT. Maybe it's because he got to the NBA Finals and lost and everybody's like, oh, Like, you had your chance, but I mean, golly, that is brutal. That's tough. So I'm not sure how JT just always lags behind in this voting. 7.5 games. Golly, that is crazy. And by the way, yes, the Boston Celtics is a good team, but The Denver Nuggets is great. Like, they had a really good team. Wow. I don't know. I really don't know what to say. Yeah, I do know what to say. JT gotta go win the NBA Finals in order to get taken serious as an MVP. Young fella, I don't know how the goalposts moved on you like that. But they should acknowledge it because those are the facts. They should acknowledge it, JT, because those are nothing but facts. And in other news, before we get out of here, there was another fight around the NBA. I mean, what is going on with these people? Y'all said I need help. These people are fighting. Jose Alvarado and Thomas Bryant, the smallest guy and the biggest guy, got to throwing hands. They both got suspended for 3 games. I mean, guys, the All-Star break is over. Like, you're supposed to be refreshed, and these guys are out here getting into it. Hey man, y'all see it ain't Draymond Green. It's not me. These guys are getting into it. Jimmy Butler and Najee Marshall got suspended for 1 game apiece, and then the young fella Jović left the bench. Come on, young fella, even I know better than that. I've been suspended more games than you done played in your career. Come on, young fella, you can't leave the bench. And who is over there on that bench telling him, hey man, no, stay over here, don't— that's the— that's the most— like, even my suspensions, young fella, they sometimes have to make a decision like, all right, we got— like, that's an obvious one. They ain't You ain't even gotta make a decision or you just getting dinged like that, bro. Somebody, somebody over there on that Miami bench, y'all make sure y'all designate somebody to keep the players off the bench. 'Cause y'all could have avoided that one with the young fella. Young fella, learn your lesson though. Don't let them get you with the easiest one. Even mine, they gotta make a decision. Don't let them get you like that. And one more thing about these fights in NBA. Another night in the NBA, another unwritten rule broken. Dennis Schroder, number one, I like Dennis Schroder. Cool dude. Dennis, you can't hit Mike Conley. Mike Conley has zero technical fouls in his NBA career. Zero. You can't hit Mike Conley. Mike Conley is the nicest person in the world, in the NBA for sure. You can't hit Mike Conley, number one. That's an unwritten rule. Can't hit Mike Conley. Number two, it's 25 seconds left in the game and they got 3 seconds left in the shot clock. Why should someone take the turnover? I just can't for the life of me understand this. I just don't get it. And so because I don't get it, I'm going to propose something in the spirit of suspending people. Let— we got to get some suspension going for this unwritten rule being broken and people then like losing their minds. If the unwritten rule is broken and someone reacts to the unwritten rule in a way like guys are reacting to this unwritten rule being broken, it should be an automatic one-game suspension, like leaving the bench or something like that. And you all know I'm not an advocate for people getting suspended because Why would I be an advocate for anyone getting suspended? Doesn't quite make sense. But like, this has to stop. Like, it's embarrassing to the guy who gets mad and say like, "Oh, you were up and you shot again." Like, this is basketball. There's no mercy rule. This is the NBA, okay? You don't wanna lose, win the game. But the unwritten rule has to stop. —and it has to stop now. So I'm calling on our commissioner, our great commissioner, Adam Silver, Joe Dee, somebody, competition committee, this unwritten rule, it has to be some writing about it because it's pretty played out and I don't get it. That's a wrap from this episode of the Draymond Green Show. I appreciate y'all watching and checking this out. Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Don't want to miss any episodes. We have another interview with a GOAT.

Bye.

Bye. Was that good? We got another interview with a GOAT dropping this week that you do not want to miss. So check it out. Till next time, peace.