Yesterday’s Golden State Warriors vs the Boston Celtics would probably go down in history as an instance of one of the most terrible implementations of a defensive strategy. According to Draymond Green, the team put together the plan just 15 minutes before leaving the locker room. Needless to say, everyone, including their opponents, was at a loss initially. But post the adjustment period, Jaylen Brown took every advantage available to him.
And the result was a 140-88 victory over the Warriors. To put things into perspective, a 52-point blowout loss for the Golden State! Of course, Brown wasn’t happy about the whole debacle. And he made sure Kerr and his team knew that. Talking about the whole incident in Gil’s Arena, it seems the ex-NBA stars are also in agreement.
Gil’s Arena and Co. have a field day with Draymond Green and the Warriors
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Particularly, Green’s role. Kenyon Martin surmised Dray’s efforts perfectly. He said, “Draymond took it to the extreme. Like, ‘we ain’t going to just bait you into shootin’, we going to dare you’.” The former All-Star opined that executing a strategy like sagging off of a team’s second-best player isn’t the right way to go about it.
In fact, Jaylen Brown was the best player of the night, finishing with a game-high 29 points. Arenas, for his part, couldn’t agree more with Martin. He said that he wouldn’t be comfortable even putting Al Horford as the experimental goat.
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According to Gil, “the point of sagging off, I’d say, that person is hesitant to shoot.” He even gives an example – Ben Simmons. Getting him to down five shots in itself is a challenge, “let alone 10. And 15; it must be his birthday!” The ex-Warriors player, therefore, believes that there are certain players teams can exact these kinds of strategies to. And it’s not to someone who makes $300 million.
Jaylen Brown didn’t mince any words regarding the “disrespect” of the GSW
Talking to the press post-game, Brown said that he felt the strategy was a little “disrespectful” to him. He also made sure to let everyone know it wasn’t personal. But, it’s safe to say that JB did take it somewhat personally. His subtle warning of daring him to shoot couldn’t have been more loud. Kerr, for his part, said that their whole game plan was for Green to protect the paint.
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It would make sense, given that Brown’s primary focus is getting in the paint and creating open looks for his teammates. Add to this, the fact, that he isn’t the best three-point shooter in the team, the Warriors naturally thought the strategy would work. But JB’s 3-point numbers, when taken individually, are not that bad. He is averaging 35.2% from beyond the arc this season while making 5.7 attempts per game and hitting 2.0.