Late Thursday night, after the Warriors had cruised to a Game 5 win over the Dallas Mavericks to punch their ticket to the NBA Finals, Stephen Curry and noted Turner employee Draymond Green made their way through the sea of fans outside Chase Center to join the Inside the NBA desk.
After talking about what it meant to get back to the mountaintop after their two years away from the playoffs, Shaq pressed Draymond on who he wanted to face in the NBA Finals. Green initially tried to talk about how good both Miami and Boston were, but Shaq wouldn’t let him coach speak his way out of answering and Draymond eventually relented and told Shaq “I’m gonna tell you who I think we’re gonna play. We’re gonna play Boston.”
“We’re gonna play Boston”
@Money23Green on who the Warriors will face in the NBA Finals | @Kia pic.twitter.com/XpRiMwOaZf
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 27, 2022
This wasn’t exactly a shocking take, given the Celtics were up 3-2 against a very banged up Heat team going back to Boston for Game 6 on Friday night. However, after Jimmy Butler carried the Heat to a rather stunning win to even the series once again and sending them back to Miami for a Game 7, some of Miami’s veterans expressed some anger with Draymond for going on national TV and declaring Boston would win the series, as they made clear to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
“Draymond broke the code,” Udonis Haslem told Yahoo Sports after the Heat’s 111-103 victory. “You ain’t supposed to say some sh*t like that. That’s disrespectful. He know better than that. … He let Shaq peer pressure him into saying some sh*t he ain’t got no business saying,” Haslem told Yahoo Sports. “I didn’t sleep much after he said that. That was some bullsh*t.”
“I don’t know what part of the game is that,” Heat forward P.J. Tucker told Yahoo Sports of Green’s comment. “A player picking a team before they’re out. That’s crazy, bro.”
It’s pretty funny that this started more “broke the code” talk, as Draymond really didn’t say anything outlandish or even say anything negative about the Heat, he just said he thinks Boston’s going to win the series (which they still might). Also, the Heat probably shouldn’t need Draymond Green to pick the Celtics to win the series the night before in order to find the motivation to win Game 6 with their season on the line.
Still, it does show that in this new media age where active players are hosting podcasts and, in Green’s case, inking national TV deals where they end up talking about teams around the league, there’s a change in that “code” coming, in that players that choose that path can no longer avoid making picks or offering up strong takes about other teams that might ruffle some feathers.