Even a future Hall of Famer needs a good pep talk now and then.
That’s exactly what Draymond Green got from his former college coach and mentor Tom Izzo after his disappointing performance in Game 2.
“Last game, Game 2 I spent the entire game pouting, frustrated, arguing with the referees … but coach [Tom] Izzo texted me actually after last game and he said it in a very nice way,” Green said on the latest episode of “The Draymond Green Show” podcast (H/T NBC Sports Bay Area).
It was a bit of a shock that Green wasn’t thrown out after receiving his first technical foul. Ultimately he was probably not tossed by referee Kane Fitzgerald despite his consistent complaining, because Fitzgerald had thrown him out in Game 1 vs. the Grizzlies.
Still, it was clear Green let the officials get into his head in Game 2. He was a team worst -19 and fouled out in just 28 minutes.
Green read the text exchange between himself and Coach Izzo.
“He said: ‘Day shaky but you got the job done. In my humble opinion, y’all got caught up in the officiating, You got to realize you’re the leader and many follow. That being said, you hit a big 3-point shot and a couple big stops were key. They follow your lead, but you’re still up 2-0. Good luck brother.’
“I knew exactly what he was saying, he didn’t need to say much more. And I responded to him, I said, ‘Coach you 1000 percent right, I let my emotions go overboard and the team did follow. I have to be better, but it sure does feel good to win.’ “
Green was much better in Game 3, with the Warriors outscoring the Mavericks by 19 in the 37 minutes he played.
“And like I said, I knew exactly right away what he was saying, I knew I needed to be better in that department and not let that affect my game negatively,” Green added. “And I really think it affected my game negatively in Game 2, which ultimately affected us as a team negatively. We were able to win the game. When you can learn from your mistakes in a win, take that. So I’ll take it and just continue to move forward, but I knew I had to be better in that department coming into this game and I thought I did a much better job there.”
