Forgive me for stating the obvious, but this is the logical place to start: outside of the Bay Area, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green isn't exactly Mr. Popularity. Throughout what has been an unbelievably successful and memorable 12-year career, Draymond Green has racked up fines, technical fouls, All-Defensive Team honors, and championship rings like few players in league history have. And he's accumulated his fair share of enemies as well. That includes Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert.
The Draymond Green-Rudy Gobert rivalry is one that's long enough that it could have its own Wikipedia page. It dates back to when Gobert was still with the Utah Jazz and Draymond Green was still regularly in the championship hunt. But time has not healed these wounds. If anything, the animosity between Green and Gobert continues to worsen, if only because Draymond Green just can't let go. And I'm not just talking about letting go of a chokehold.
On Friday night, after the Dallas Mavericks' come-from-behind Game 2 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves — a victory that was capped off by a Luka Doncic game-winning three that momentarily broke the internet — Draymond Green and the rest of the Inside the NBA crew were talking with Luka Doncic about the game, when leftover Timberwolves fans started chirping at their familiar foe. And Draymond, never one to shy away from confrontation, had something to say about it.
What did you do? Draymond, you turned an NBA game into a heavyweight UFC fight! Do you really expect them to lay roses down at your feet when you walk into the Target Center?
What do the Minnesota Timberwolves do?
This is the important question that should be asked following Game 2, because now, the Minnesota Timberwolves find themselves in the position that they put the Denver Nuggets in just one round ago… trailing 0-2 despite having home court advantage heading into the series. The Wolves have lost these two games by a combined four points, a pair of outcomes that surely have both players and coaches in the Minnesota Timberwolves locker room kicking themselves for letting two winnable games slip away.
Ultimately, the difference here has been that the Mavericks have had the two best players in the series thus far. Not only are Luka Doncic and his “greatest backcourt of all-time” running mate Kyrie Irving the two leading scorers in the series, they're also by far the two players who look the most comfortable on the big stage. Neither Anthony Edwards or Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota's two leading scorers during the regular season, have performed up to the standard that the Wolves need them to in order to make their first ever trip to the NBA Finals. And that's a much bigger problem than what Draymond Green, sitting up in the stands in a suit, poses to the Timberwolves.
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