Draymond Green and the Golden State Warriors made a statement by beating the champion Boston Celtics 118-112 on Wednesday. However, later this week, they will focus on beating former teammate Klay Thompson and the Dallas Mavericks.
The Warriors improved to 7-1 and are in a three-way tie with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Phoenix Suns atop the Western Conference. Green sent a warning shot to Thompson via The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis after recalling a story he's told before involving Mavs star Kyrie Irving.
“I'm working out; they come in again after me, and I'm talking to Kyrie, and he [Klay Thompson] walks up and says, “Ky, are you talking to the Ops?” and I said there's definitely some seriousness to it because he just said the same thing to me,” Green said. “Therefore, I'm going to run through his chest when we play him now.
“I wasn't going to, but now I'm going to run through his chest. That's where that whole thing came from. Obviously, we all love Klay, but to love Klay is to also know that he's going to come in there and try to murder us.”
The stage is set for a potential bloodbath as the Warriors are riding high on a five-game winning streak topped off by their road win over the defending champions. Meanwhile, the Western Conference champion Mavs are 5-3 with Thompson averaging 14.5 points on 44.8% shooting, including 39.1% from deep.
Then, Green gave his teammate, Mosey Moody, tips on what to expect from Thompson when the two teams clash next Tuesday in the group stage of the NBA Cup.
“I haven't seen Klay post up with Dallas at all. He's going to try and run you to the post mode,” Green said. “He's going to be on all of that.”
While Warriors' Draymond Green still loves the teammate with whom he won four NBA titles, he's expecting Thompson's absolute best.
Stephen Curry flashes NBA Finals form in win over Celtics
Warriors superstar Stephen Curry stunned fans with an unreal trick shot at TD Garden, then got to work in beating the champion Celtics. He finished with 27 points on 8-of-17 shooting, including 4-of-9 from deep, seven rebounds, nine assists, and four steals.
It's the kind of production that reminded the champs of the future Hall of Fame point guard's brilliance if they needed a reminder from what happened throughout the 2022 NBA Finals when the Warriors beat the Celtics 4-2.