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The Golden State Warriors are one win away from booking their place in the second round of the 2025 NBA playoffs after they took a 3-1 series lead courtesy of a 109-106 win over the Houston Rockets on Monday night. This is quite the turnaround for the Warriors, a team that had its championship window re-opened by their gutsy trade for the divisive Jimmy Butler.
Butler's arrival has brought out the best from the members of the Warriors roster, including Draymond Green, who saw his candidacy for the 2025 Defensive Player of the Year award take off in the aftermath of the blockbuster trade that brought Butler in. Green is back to anchoring the Warriors' defense at an elite level, and there's no greater evidence of this than how he put Alperen Sengun in a straitjacket during the possession where the Rockets could have taken the lead with the Warriors up by just one, 107-106.
This is what Green has been doing all his career, and head coach Steve Kerr, the man responsible for entrusting Green with a starting spot he hasn't relinquished since the 2014-15 season, gave him his much-deserved praise for getting the most important defensive stop of the night for the Warriors.
“He’s the best defender I've ever seen my life, and he rises to the occasion on top of being a great defender. He's an incredible competitor. We've seen it. I've seen it for 11 years — game on the line, Draymond making a stop. It's like having Steph Curry take the shot,” Kerr said in his postgame presser, via 95.7 The Game on X (formerly Twitter).
Steve Kerr on Draymond: “He’s the best defender I've ever seen my life, and he rises to the occasion on top of being a great defender. He's an incredible competitor. I've seen it for 11 years — game on the line, Draymond making a stop. It's like having Steph Curry take the shot.” pic.twitter.com/ko4R1EpElV
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) April 29, 2025
Green has the positional awareness, the intelligence, and the desire to be great on defense, and it's complemented by his long wingspan, low center of gravity, and quick feet that allows him to cover a ton of ground defensively for the Warriors. He may not have won this year's DPOY award, but he is certainly deserving of that acclaim all the same.
Draymond Green, Warriors are winning the war against the Rockets
The Rockets made it clear, from the first second of Game 1, that they were going to muck things up and play as physically as they can against the Warriors, taking advantage of their size, speed, and athleticism. But Draymond Green isn't just about to let his team get punked — definitely not by a Rockets team with Dillon Brooks on it.
Green is this generation's most notorious enforcer, and this series has been perfect for his enforcing ways. He's never afraid to get his hands dirty in protecting the Warriors' stars, and with the game on the line, Green knows that he must be on his best behavior, allowing him to walk the fine line between legal and illegal.
