Draymond Green’s Resurgence has been Key to the Warriors’ Success
By Andrew Ites
The Warriors have flipped the switch in the playoffs, and Draymond Green’s performance may be the most glaring example.
Warriors forward Draymond Green entered this season as the defending Defensive Player of the Year, but Draymond even admitted that he didn’t play at the same high level during this past regular season.
Green battled a sore shoulder all year long, and that may have affected his performance. His motivation could have also been lower during the regular season after the Warriors won their second championship in three years.
Draymond has put all that behind him and turned it on in the first six games of this year’s postseason.
In the playoffs, Green has improved his scoring average by 1.2 points per game over his regular season numbers. He’s also grabbed 11.8 rebounds and dished out 8.5 assists per game in the postseason.
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In addition to his offensive contributions, Draymond has been much more active on the defensive end of the floor than he was during the regular season as he’s begun to look more like the best defender in the NBA.
With Steph Curry on the bench for the first six playoff games, Draymond has been asked to take on a larger role in the offense. He’s still not shooting the ball well, but he’s excelled as a facilitator which has helped the Warriors’ offense run smoothly without Steph.
It was obvious that Golden State coasted through the regular season, and there were plenty of questions about whether they would be able to kick it into high gear when the playoffs rolled around.
It certainly looks like the Warriors have successfully flipped the switch, and Draymond Green’s improvement has been a key to their early postseason success.