Draymond Green speaks on his clutch defense against Kawhi Leonard.
The Golden State Warriors advanced in the Play-In tournament on Wednesday, defeating the Los Angeles Clippers, 126-121.
The Warriors were led by Steph Curry, who finished with 35 points on 12-23 shooting and 7-12 from three. Gui Santos added 20 points, Kristaps Porzingis also had 20 points. Al Horford chipped in with 14 points, including four threes.
Draymond Green only had seven points, but added six rebounds and nine assists.
Most importantly, Draymond looked like the 2016-17 Defensive Player of the Year down the stretch, especially with his defense on Kawhi Leonard.
Kawhi finished with 21 points on 8-17, but took only two shots in the fourth quarter, and had one costly turnover.
All thanks to Draymond Green.
Draymond Green Speaks
Speaking after the game, Draymond explained his mindset in locking down the Clippers star in the fourth quarter.
"There will never be a person that I will want to prove more to than myself. The same people that say I lost a step said I never had a step. They're the same people that said I will never make it and I should be out of the NBA, I ride a coattail. If you don't bring your best against Kawhi Leonard, you get embarrassed fast," he said.
Draymond said that in the last two days, he's had to live with the fear of getting embarrassed because he knew he was going up against Kawhi Leonard.
Clutch Defensive Plays
Draymond made two big plays down the stretch that helped secure the game for the Warriors.
After a Steph Curry three, which was assisted by Draymond, to put the Warriors up three with 50 seconds left, Draymond took over on the defensive end.
On the ensuing possession, Draymond stole the inbounds pass from Bennedict Mathurin, jumping over Kawhi to tip the ball away. Draymond's play led to a break for Brandin Podziemski, who scored on a goaltending call on the Clippers.
Podziemski was fouled on the play, knocking down the free throw to complete the three point play, putting the Warriors up six.
Any hopes the Clippers had to make up six points in 46 seconds were dashed when Draymond poked the ball away from Kawhi on the following possession.
The ball found Steph, who was fouled. Steph split the free throws, putting the Warriors up seven.
Kawhi's only bucket in the fourth quarter came with 16 second left and the game more or less decided when he got an open dunk after a Clippers possession that was blown up and took too much time off the clock.