Yahoo Sports Draymond Green reacts to mom's tweet about his NBA Finals performances
It wasn't long before Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green saw his mother's tweet about her son's struggles in the NBA Finals.
Soon after the Warriors evened the series at 2-2 with a 107-97 win over the Boston Celtics on Friday night, Green acknowledged his poor performance on his podcast, "The Draymond Green Show."
"I saw my mom tweeted that it's been a tough series for me. Absolutely – it definitely has," Green said on his podcast after the game. "But, figure it out how you gotta figure it out. It's not the toughest thing I've had to deal with in my life thus far, but I'm sure I'll have a tougher challenge in my life than this. But currently, I gotta figure this one out. And I have no doubt in my mind that I will."
Green finished with just two points for the second consecutive game of the Finals, though he did tally nine rebounds and eight assists in the Warriors' win. However, Green played so badly in Game 4 that Warriors coach Steve Kerr benched him for some offensive possessions during the final five minutes of the game.
Kerr claimed Green's struggles are a product of the Celtics' physicality, but the numbers don't lie: Green's shooting just 23% from the field – including 0-for-9 from behind the arc – and he's committed 18 personal fouls while scoring just 17 points through four games.
Before the Finals, Green averaged 8.7 points per game, 6.9 rebounds per game and shot 53.9% from the field and 26.1% from three in these playoffs.
Following Friday night's match, Green's mother, Mary Babers, tweeted she didn't understand why her son wasn't playing well.
Please ppl stop asking me what’s wrong with Dray… I DONT KNOW! Maybe this is a CLONE! Lmbo WHERE IS THE Draymond that helped get us here!! Hmmmm I have never seen this either!
— Mary B (@BabersGreen) June 11, 2022
Green's podcast has been the subject of much consternation in the NBA Finals. Some attributed Green's lack of success to his postgame podcasting — including former NBA players Isiah Thomas and Kendrick Perkins. Bleacher Report's Jake Fischer also asked Green after Game 3 whether or not he thought his podcast gave the Celtics insight into his gameplay.
Green vehemently denied these claims — both in his postgame news conference and during his podcast. But Green never excused his performance so far and even said he understood why Kerr benched him in Game 4.
"This is the playoffs. I don't get caught up in — as long as we win the game ... you can throw whoever out there. As long as we win, I really don't care," Green said in his podcast. "And so the whole notion of like, that you have to check in with certain guys if you're going to take them out the game or if you think it's better for the team. I think that's ridiculous. I watch teams every year in the playoffs not sub guys that they know they should sub, and they lose. And so the fact that, you know, Steve went away from me for a little while, was I pissed off and frustrated? Absolutely. There's seven minutes to go in an extremely important game. You know, you can't go down 3-1, you don't want to go down 3-1, and I'm coming out of the game. I was livid. But I credit my teammates."
