Getty Draymond Green, Al Horford, Boston Celtics
As the Boston Celtics gear up to take on the Golden State Warriors for the first time since losing to them in the NBA Finals, it would appear that Draymond Green is expecting to face a wildly improved team.
When speaking to local reporters after a recent Warriors practice, Green shared his thoughts on the 21-5 Celtics, noting how the Celtics have responded to their NBA Finals loss in the perfect way.
“They look incredible…They’re playing well, they’re playing together…They’re responding how you expect a young team to respond to the Finals loss. It just says a lot about their character, says a lot about the guys’ will to win and will to be great. You either get motivated by losing an NBA championship or playoff series… or you go down the tube. They’re obviously motivated by it, and they’re playing well,” Green said.
His bros w/ awful shot selection so Draymond Green says IMMA DO IT MYSELF
Boston is currently the best offensive team in the NBA and has been making marked improvements on the defensive end of the floor, ranking 8th in the NBA – as such, they will likely feel confident heading into their game against the Warriors as they look to exercise any daemons they may be carrying following their game six loss.
Green Spent the Summer Gloating
Shortly after the Warriors lifted the Larry O’Brien trophy, Green began to troll the Celtics. For Celtics fans, one of the more prominent memories they may have is from when Green hung a t-shirt over the Warriors tour bus with the slogan ‘Boston Sucks’ written on it.
Draymond Green will never let Boston hear the end of this t.co/lZo0fpcrIH
Around that time, Green was also pictured with a Celtics ‘banner 18’ T-shirt, where he had crossed out the empty 2022 box and written ‘Warriors – NOPE!!! Maybe in ’23’ on it, before wearing it around with the image going viral on social media.
Draymond Green roasts the Celtics after they didn’t get their 18th championship banner 🤣:
h/t @warriorsworld
The Celtics will likely have some of Greens’ antics fresh in their mind when they face off against him and his Warriors team on December 10.
Jayson Tatum Focusing on One Game at a Time
Speaking to the media following the Celtics’ December 7 victory over the Phoenix Suns, Tatum revealed that he’s approaching the upcoming game against the Warriors in the same fashion as he would any other contest – rather than viewing it as a potential revenge game.
.@jaytatum0 isn’t getting caught up in the hype of Celtics’ rematch with the Golden State Warriors #BleedGreen
“You know, it’s just one game. You know, obviously, it’s probably a big deal, and everybody is gonna make it a big deal. But for us, being honest, they beat us last year. They won a championship, and we lost. So, they got that over us, and you know, we understand that. But, obviously, we wanna go in there and continue to build off of what we’ve been doing. And you know, go in there and get a win. But, in the grand scheme of things, it’s just one game, so it’s not gonna make or break whatever we’re trying to accomplish once the game is over,” Tatum said.
Luckily for the Celtics, now is potentially the best time to face Golden State, as they continue to struggle for consistency and sit 11th in the Western Conference with a 13-13 record. Of course, win or lose, the Celtics’ current focus is on winning a championship, so, if we believe Tatum, this is just another game on the road to a banner.