Draymond Green Reveals how he Plans to Defend Against Anthony Davis

Posted on by Jim Smarts

Anthony Davis was brilliant for the Lakers as they managed to beat Golden State Warriors in a hard-fought game. The Lakers won the game 103-100 at home and clinched the playoff spot from Warriors. Davis played the most minutes for the Lakers (42 mins) and scored the most points for his team (25). Davis also managed two assists and 12 rebounds in the game. A win means the Lakers will face Phoenix Suns in the playoffs. 

Draymond Green also played the most minutes for his team (41 mins). He scored two points and managed eight assists and nine rebounds. Steph Curry was on fire and managed to score a whopping 37 points but it still wasn’t enough for the Warriors as they fell down at the last. A loss against the Lakers means they will now face Memphis Grizzlies on Friday and need to win to advance ahead. 

Draymond Green has been brilliant defensively again this season, despite the Warriors struggling. A surprising stat is that in the past eight years in the NBA, no player has been the closest defender on Anthony Davis than Draymond Green. Additionally, Davis is the player Green has defended the most in the same span of time. The next on the list is James Harden and LeBron James. ESPN’s journalist Rachel Nicols interviewed Draymond Green ahead of the Warriors’ loss at the hands of the Lakers. In the virtual interview, she asked Green about who has the bigger advantage of the familiarity between them. 

“I think for both of us it’s great. I know what he is trying to get to and he (Anthony Davis) knows how I defend. He knows the things I am going to do.

Green highlighted that both know each other by playing a lot against each other. And both have an upper hand when it comes down to familiarity.

“So then what it boils down to is, it boils down to the heart. It boils down to who wanted more of it. It boils down to who can I think the next guy on that particular play who’s going to take it on the chest and defend without fouling. All of these things, that’s what it ends boiling down to. But one thing that’s for certain, there would be no surprises” Green added while answering to ESPN. 

The Golden State will now be the seventh seed in the Western Conference. However, Draymond Green thinks Steph Curry deserves to be the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the league this season. Ahead of the Warriors’ game against the Lakers, even Steve Kerr warned the Lakers about Green.

“The pro is that we’ve got I think the best defender on earth guarding one of the best players on earth,” Kerr said ahead of Warriors’ game against Lakers.

This is just the second time NBA has introduced play-in, the first being last season inside the bio-bubble. In this new system, only six teams qualify for the playoffs (earlier 8 used to qualify directly). For the remaining two spots, the 7th and 8th seeded will decide the 7th playoff spot. 8th and 9th seeds will play each other and the winner will face the loser of the first play-in. This will decide the last playoff spot.