Draymond Green keeps making wine out of water, taking Kristaps Porzingis‘ comments way beyond their actual purpose and using it yet again for his ever-running fuel. This time it went to work during the Golden State Warriors‘ Thursday night matchup against the New York Knicks.
The lanky power forward had fallen plenty short against the Warriors in both occasions during his rookie year, and had made it a point to make up for it this season.
To many, Porzingis' comments might sound like an honest attempt at personal redemption — to Green, it read as motivation.
“[His comment] kind of pissed me off and made me want to go a little harder this game and guard him,” Green said, following Golden State’s 103-90 home win on Thursday. “I like the passion, I like the dog that he has, I like that you want to see me again, but keep that to yourself. Don’t let everybody know that you’re going after me. I guess we’re going to go after each other. That’s fine.”
Green told reporters that his Nike player representative Adrian Stelly had relayed Porzingis’s comments to him shortly prior to tip-off.
Porzingis is an adidas athlete and visibly turned down Nike this season for a major sum of money, so it wouldn't be surprising if Stelly might have twisted his quotes just to give Green a little fire to spark the flame.
“I appreciate [Stelly] showing me that because I was a little in la-la land and that immediately pissed me off,” Green said. “I think [Porzingis] is a great player. I think he will continue to get better and better, but that made it real personal.”
Whether it was the rep's doing or Green all on his own as he has before, the undersized power forward put on a coach's highlight reel on defense, forcing the 7-foot-3 Porzingis into several air balls and holding him under double-digits scoring for only the second time this season, despite giving up eight inches in height.
“Draymond gets into you every time,” Porzingis said. “Before you get the ball, when you’ve got the ball, he’s into you. He’s always using his hands, he’s just a smart defender and he knows how to be in a position where you feel uncomfortable.”
The Warriors benefitted from the absences of Carmelo Anthony and Derrick Rose and clamped down on the Knicks unicorn, holding him to a poor eight-point, five-rebound night on 4-of-13 shooting.
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