Draymond Green is perhaps the lone member of the Golden State Warriors with the most to prove, having proven turnover-prone in the second half of the season, and not the game-changer on defense that he was during his 2017-18 Defensive Player of the Year season.

But even if he has yet to pin a Damian Lillard shot in the backboard, or steal the ball from behind a Gordon Hayward, Green feels his defense will be where it's always been, regardless of what the NBA thinks.

“I don't need a stage to remind people who I am defensively,” Green said, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “They know. That's why they try to get me away from their actions. I don't need to remind everybody of that. I f**k up enough people's offenses for them to get reminded.”

This might be perhaps the most challenging season for the Warriors, going into a fourth straight postseason trip and summoning the locked-in mentality to win 16 more games before heading into the offseason.

Yet be warned not to look too closely at his season averages, as his playoff numbers are marginally better in the postseason, where it counts the most.

“It's a different brand of basketball,” Green said of the playoffs. “More competitive. Very fun. I love that brand of basketball.”

Flashing back just one year ago, Green had 17 blocked shots in a four-game clean sweep of the Portland Trail Blazers, wreaking havoc everywhere he stood on defense.

“I was all over the place,” Green said, thinking back on the series. “(The playoffs fit my style) a lot more. It's a lot more physical than the regular season where a lot of guys flop and get the call. You don't get that call in the playoffs. You're able to battle it out a little bit more.”

The Warriors have also spent most of the season trifling with the referees, a move that is expected to pay off this postseason, as expected by his teammate Andre Iguodala — noting they will be less loose with the whistles.