The Golden State Warriors got a big win over the Milwaukee Bucks last night, and they did it without Steph Curry. That’s usually a recipe for disaster for the Dubs, but the defense led the way, holding Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard to a 11-34 shooting performance and 36 combined points in the 104-93 win. The win was especially big after Monday night’s loss to a depleted Denver Nuggets team that was playing without Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.
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Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler keyed the defensive effort last night, and Green was asked after the game if he believed that he had a Defensive Player of the Year case. Green, who won the award back in 2017 and has made the NBA’s All-Defensive team eight times, is feeling himself a bit now that the Warriors have gotten on such a roll.
Green responded that he “most definitely” has a case if the Warriors are able to continue their winning ways.
“I look around the league, I don’t see many players impacting the game on the defensive end the way I do… Especially with Wemby going down, it seemed like he had it won, and now it’s right there. One million percent I have a case, and I’ll continue to build that case in these next 13 games, but tonight was a prime example of it.”
This was the quintessential Green game, as he scored only three points but completely ruined the Bucks with his defense. He ended the game with two steals and four blocks, but even more impressive was that he held Giannis, who is normally a lock to shoot over 50 percent from the floor on any given night, to such a bad performance.
Does Draymond Green have a case for his second Defensive Player of the Year?
Green is right that Victor Wembanyama had this award locked up before he was ruled out for the season. The fact that he’ll end the year with under 65 games played makes him ineligible for any season-long awards, which has really made this a wide-open race. Green has taken advantage, as he’s played his best basketball in the time since Wemby went down.
Signature games like this one go a long way toward building a case, and, honestly, it helps to have a platform to advocate for yourself as Green did here. According to FanDuel, he’s the second-favorite to take home the hardware, behind only Cavs big man Evan Mobley.
Butler’s arrival has been given the lion’s share of the credit for Golden State’s turnaround, which is completely fair. He’s made a huge difference since coming over for Miami, and he’s rejuvenated Steph as well, who’s been lights out the past few weeks. Green deserves his flowers too, though, as his defense has been a constant all year.
Green’s impact goes beyond racking up steals and blocks. He advocated after the game for voters to look at more than just the numbers when measuring a player’s defensive impact. “The award is widely based off statistics, and those statistics don’t always tell the story,” he said.
That shouldn’t impact his race against Mobley for DPOY, because while Green averages 2.5 stocks per game, Mobley has 2.4. Even if the young Cleveland big has the edge right now, this final stretch of games could still swing the race if the Warriors continue to win and Green continues to shut down the opposing team’s best player.
