Draymond Green took to his podcast The Draymond Green Show to give his take on LeBron James's assessment of the 2022 NBA Finals between the Warriors and Celtics. LeBron James and JJ Redick spoke about a lot of topics in the first episode of their new podcast Mind The Game. According to James, basketball IQ is what powered the Warriors to their victory over Boston.
“There’s moments in the game that a coach cannot prepare you for, film can’t prepare you for, the history of the game can’t prepare you for, where you have to have a basketball IQ to make adjustments right away, if you don't have that level of mind frame or capacity…I believe that when Golden State beat Boston, it came down to IQ in the Finals. Because Boston, to me, had the better talent. Boston had the better talent. But it came down to IQ. People say experience – IQ.”
Green agrees with James on his assessment that the Warriors showed high basketball IQ in how they applied adjustments to power them to a victory. However, Green believes there was another factor that also led them to victory.
“That to a certain degree is very true. I think we definitely had a higher IQ at the time. But I think we also had more than just higher IQ though, it’s also [that we had] higher IQ in the moment. You get in these playoffs sometimes and this is the NBA Finals we’re talking about, sometimes those lights can get a little bit brighter than you expect. So, I think our basketball IQ was higher, but also at that time our coaching staff’s basketball IQ was higher, the adjustments that we made throughout that series, it made all the difference”
A perfect encapsulation of what both LeBron James and Draymond Green are speaking about is the Warriors's improbable comeback in Game 4 of that Finals series. The Celtics led the series 2-1 and seemed as if as the game was winding down and that they would ultimately pull away and go up 3-1. But, the Warriors were powered by Steph Curry, who scored 43 points and hit 7 three-pointers to change the trajectory of the series.
LeBron James on Jayson Tatum
Also of note, LeBron James had some very kind words about Jason Tatum, who's emerging as a certified superstar as he leads the Celtics to the best record in the league. LeBron was high on Tatum and all that he's achieved with Boston thus far in his young career.
“I think we have a lot of expectations on JT, but he’s experienced a lot of winning in his career so far. Obviously, everyone wants to see him get over the hump. But four conference finals and a finals appearance before the age of 26 is elite. He’s continued to grow and they are in a position where they can make another title run.”
Ironically, Jayson Tatum's first Eastern Conference Finals appearance as a rookie in the 2017-2018 season was against LeBron and the Cavaliers, in which LeBron powered his team to a victory. Jayson Tatum was picked third overall in the 2017 NBA Draft and the Celtics have made it to the playoffs every year since.
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