Jaylen Brown was holding his right shoulder, his expression puzzled and annoyed. He looked like a teenager who gets a tattoo for the first time and realizes with the first needle stick how damn it’s going to hurt. In a way, that’s what happened: the Boston Celtics point guard was involved in a tussle with Draymond Green, and the Golden State Warriors winger is sort of the NBA’s tattoo artist: he sticks needles and eventually he’s under his opponent’s skin , and then he won’t go away.
It’s interesting what Brown did next, because it helps explain why the Celtics won that third game of the Finals series 116-110: he wasn’t whining, but he also didn’t give the yob-max Max like many do in a head-to-head with Green try and fail miserably. Brown did absolutely nothing. He wiped his shoulder, got up and just kept playing like nothing had happened.
The Boston Celtics’ handling of this Draymond Green should be decisive for the outcome of the best-of-seven series – it is therefore worth watching the provocateur for a whole game and not just studying the scenes that can be seen in highlights are: this tussle with Brown, the provoked foul against Grant Williams with sarcastic clapping, the trash talk against Brown after a crashing block. Those are the moments that made Brown say “twelve” when asked where he would rate Green’s nerve factor on a scale of one to ten.
At the beginning of the final quarter, Green had five fouls – Brown took advantage of that
There are scenes in which he wants to get under the opponent’s skin; he puts the needle pricks for it in front of it. It would be wrong to see Green as just an angry wrecker, just because the Warriors wouldn’t pay him $25 million this year. It’s the only reason he hasn’t won three NBA titles and two Olympic gold medals, the only reason he hasn’t been named to the All-Star team four times. Because Green is a walking NBA record, he knows every statistic, every little peculiarity of the opponent. One hears from colleagues that he deals intensively with the psyche of athletes.
Jaylen Brown handled Green’s provocations very well.
(Photo: Michael Dwyer/AP)
So Green doesn’t just tattoo; he creates small works of art, as Dennis Rodman once did with the Detroit Pistons and later the Chicago Bulls. Rodman was a record too, he got excited about those mental struggles. With Green, this also includes a feeling for when he has to position his needle, when he can set a stitch, when the ink has to flow – because with this way of playing it is also clear: a few wrong strokes and the picture is completely messed up.
That was exactly what was observed in this third game: When the Warriors were clearly behind in the first half, Green provoked a small scuffle; shortly afterwards he got two nice passes and the Warriors stayed on. In the second half then this minute, when opponents get a green tattoo: rebound, then he blocked the way for sniper Stephen Curry. He hit from beyond the three-point line and was deliberately fouled, i.e.: additional free throw plus possession of the ball, which led to another three. Seven quick points. With the next ball possession, Green blocked again for Curry: another three. Suddenly, the Golden State Warriors were leading. Usually the opponents look puzzled and annoyed, they whine or protest – and have lost at that moment.
How do you deal with a tattoo artist who has almost perfected his art in nine professional years? Well, you have to walk the line that Green walks, always on the border between game-changing action and technical foul or even suspension. You have to be brave and provoke Green to false tricks; you have to pull your shoulder away when he hits a sore spot. It sounds easy, but it’s incredibly difficult, and Brown drew his own artwork for dealing with Green on Wednesday night.
The fans insult Green and shout: “Fuck you, Draymond”
He did not react to provocations (colleague Williams, on the other hand, was close to a carotid artery strain twice), he attacked Green courageously and tirelessly. That led to Green collecting a foul, and another, and another. But Green needs the freedom to misbehave – he knows, for example, that no referee in the world will throw him out for arguing with an opponent during a finals series. Despite the warning, he just keeps talking, Green knows exactly what he’s doing.
But now he had five fouls early in the final quarter so he was like a tattoo artist out of ink and Brown took advantage of that. He kept attacking, the Celtics pulled away, and with more than four minutes to go, it was six foul greens, he was out, and the relief the fans in Boston felt was reflected in the highest appreciation the fans received athletes: They insulted him and shouted “Fuck you, Draymond”.
Green smiled when he heard that. That game was lost, of course, but he looked like he already knew what he wanted to do in the next game on Saturday night. The tattoo artist then starts again with zero fouls, i.e. with a well-filled needle.