Steve Kerr made a big decision down the stretch of Game 4.
After a layup from Jaylen Brown put the Celtics ahead by four points with 7:32 remaining in the fourth quarter, Kerr pulled Draymond Green from the game to go with a smaller lineup of Stephen Curry, Jordan Poole, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Kevon Looney.
Green later returned and made some big plays to help the Warriors come away with the victory, but Kerr's decision to bench Green in such a crucial moment in Golden State's season speaks to how much the four-time All-Star has struggled offensively in the Finals.
MORE: Draymond Green was not thrilled with his Game 4 benching
In Game 3, Green finished with two points on 1-for-4 shooting from the field. He was limited to two points again in Game 4, only he missed six of his seven shot attempts.
Even Green's mom has been surprised by his showing so far in this series.
Please ppl stop asking me what’s wrong with Dray… I DONT KNOW! Maybe this is a CLONE! Lmbo WHERE IS THE Draymond that helped get us here!! Hmmmm I have never seen this either!
— Mary B (@BabersGreen) June 11, 2022
Scoring isn't Green's forte, but the Warriors will likely need more from him offensively to defeat the Celtics two more times.
It begs the question: What is Boston doing to limit Green?
The Celtics' unique approach to defending Draymond Green
Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart have been the primary defenders on Green in the Finals.
It's a smart decision by Celtics head coach Ime Udoka to have them guard Green for two particular reasons:
- Tatum and Smart have a better chance of staying in front of Curry than Al Horford and Robert Williams III do. By having Tatum or Smart guard Green instead of Horford or Williams, they're better equipped to switch pick-and-rolls and handoffs involving Green and Curry.
- Green doesn't have a speed advantage over Tatum and Smart. As I detailed heading into the Finals, bigs usually give Green space when he has the ball in his hands knowing he's not much of a shooting threat, but that allows him to calmly pick teams apart with his passing. By applying more pressure on him in those situations, it makes it harder for him to play traffic cop.
That's not to say Horford and Williams haven't spent any time matched up with Green in the Finals, because they have. While they're not as comfortable defending the perimeter as Tatum and Smart, Green has had a hard time finishing over both of them at the rim when he has challenged them.
How the Celtics are picking on Draymond Green's weaknesses
The Celtics haven't been shy about helping off of Green, a career 31.5 percent 3-point shooter, when he's off-ball.
Again, it's a fine balance between giving Green the optimal amount of space and too much because of how smart he is and how well he moves the ball, but Smart is particularly good at playing centerfield. He's highly disruptive as a help defender — few players recorded as many deflections and charges as he did during the regular season — and he's so quick to rotate that it sometimes feels like he's in two places at once.
Just watch Smart on this entire possession:
The initial help to muck up spacing for Curry, the recovery to cut off Green's drive, the way he defended the back-and-forth between Green and Wiggins ... that's as good as it gets.
What's interesting about the Warriors is they have had different players defend Green to this point of the series. Tatum and Smart have been the two constants, but Williams guarded him more than anyone else on the Celtics in Game 4 according to the matchup data.
Each of them offers something different. For Tatum, size and length. For Smart, strength and versatility. And for Williams, elite rim protection.
Green was able to take advantage of Williams roaming once in Game 4...
...but Williams won that battle more times than Green did.
Something else that has gotten a lot of attention is how the Celtics are playing drop coverage against Curry, the greatest shooter of all time who is an incredible 20-for-40 on pull-up 3-point attempts in the Finals. It's an odd decision on the surface, but by doing so, the Celtics are taking away the 4-on-3 attacks Green feasts on.
One of the few times the Celtics trapped Curry in Game 4 came with just over a minute remaining in the fourth quarter. Want to guess what happened?
Preventing those sequences has clearly been a point of emphasis for the Celtics.
What has Steve Kerr said about Draymond Green's struggles?
Following Game 4, Kerr admitted that the Celtics are a tough matchup for Green.
"Look, this is a tough series for him to score because of Boston's size and athleticism, but he's still impacting the game at a huge level," Kerr said of Green. "And he knows we're just going to do whatever it takes to win.
"We've got a lot of guys who can contribute. A lot of guys did that tonight, and you know, we got it done. And whatever it takes in Game 5, that's what we'll do, too."
To Kerr's point, Green leads the Warriors with 5.8 assists per game in the Finals and has made some big plays defensively, but it'll be interesting to see how Golden State handles his minutes in Game 5 and beyond if he can't figure out a way to make more of an impact offensively.
