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USA Today via Reuters

USA Today via Reuters

Draymond Green is having a torrid time since Game 3 ended. It is no surprise that he has received criticism from all quarters for his performance. Yesterday, he served up his trademark triple single numbers again, but this time, he wasn’t useful at the defensive phase. Boston has taken advantage of Green’s limitations as an offensive player.

Draymond is a great defender who’s offensive contributions are limited to offering great passes for his teammates. His shooting is not needed much when the team has Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. The Boston Celtics have exposed this chink in the Golden State Warriors’ armour.

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Sports pundits, while describing Green’s performances, have gone over the top. On ESPN’s morning show Get Up, former NFL safety Ryan Clark went off the while comparing Draymond to professional basketball player and rapper J.Cole.

He said, “It’s a problem when J. Cole has a better stat line than Draymond Green. I know that Draymond Green affects the game in a way that the stat sheet doesn’t say, whether it’s boxing out, whether it’s energy, whether it’s defense.”

READ MORE:  NBA Twitter Grills Warriors’ Draymond Green After He Displays NFL Like Play Against Jayson Tatum In Game 3

Clark mentioned that Green starts the offense and gets everyone in the right spots while bringing physicality during the defensive phase.”If Draymond Green does not play better, if he doesn’t affect the game more than he has so far in this series,” Clark said, “the Golden State Warriors cannot win another ring.”

These are some of the fan reactions:

 

How important is Draymond Green to the Warriors?

While Clark may have come off as over the top in his analysis, he isn’t too wrong in saying that an in form Draymond would highly help the Golden State Warriors. The things Draymond brings aren’t shown in box scores, but advanced stats do show that he has a high percentage of win shares.

It is because he is a great defensive leader and always starts the offense of the team. His on-court IQ has always put him in good positions to allow others to score.

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Without him, Golden State would have been an incomplete team. They arguably wouldn’t have won three NBA Titles. His leadership has always been needed.

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But in this series, Green is now being mocked for getting into rugby tackles. He was fouled out in the last few minutes of Game 3. Draymond ended up with just 2 points, 3 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 turnovers, 1 block and 6 personal fouls. The Boston Celtics, of course, went on to win Game 3 by a score of 100-116.