Draymond Green said the Warriors would be playing the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals. Not so fast…
When I saw it on TV, I was surprised. TNT’s Shaquille O’Neal asked Draymond Green who he’d like to play in the NBA Finals right after the Golden State Warriors won the Western Conference Finals.
As Draymond was answering, he shifted to a new question: not who he wanted to play — but who he thought they would play. And confidently, he said, “We’re gonna play Boston.”
Now, let’s be clear…Draymond can still be right, as the Heat and the Celtics will be playing Game 7 in Miami on Sunday night and the winner of that game will open their series against the Warriors in the NBA Finals on Thursday night.
GAME 7 ODDS via DraftKings
The Miami Heat are opening up the Game 7 line as a +2.5 underdog for their home game against the Boston Celtics. With an over/under of 199 — DraftKings thinks it’s going to be a bit of a slugfest. If you think the Heat are going to win, jump into DraftKings and take advantage with a bet that will pay you out if Miami wins the game. Click Here to see the odds.
Did the HEAT hear what Draymond said?
Well, immediately after the game, Miami Heat legend Udonis Haslem went out of his way to the ESPN broadcast team on air and told them, “Tell Draymond, ‘Thank You.’” So yeah, it would appear that they heard what he said and took it personally.
“Tell Draymond thank you.”
Dray picked the Celtics to win the series, so Udonis Haslem had a message for their possible NBA Finals opponent
: @BleacherReport pic.twitter.com/xhZPVvKWFZ
— FanDuel (@FanDuel) May 28, 2022
So Udonis heard it. On top of that, when P.J. Tucker was interviewed by Scott Van Pelt postgame on ESPN, Tucker finished his interview with the same sentiment, unwarranted. He wanted to make sure Draymond knew he appreciated the words and the motivation.
Draymond Green on Thursday: “We’re gonna play Boston.”
P.J. Tucker after Miami won Game 6: “Tell Draymond I said I appreciate it.”
A little motivation for Miami in Game 6 perhaps… pic.twitter.com/dBX1S7DQwU
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) May 28, 2022
Now, the one guy who said he wasn’t aware was Jimmy Butler. When he was interviewed, although not asked directly about the quote, said he hasn’t heard the noise, he listens to the organization. He mentioned that his motivation came from a phone call from Dwyane Wade. But I find that a little hard to believe that Jimmy was unaware of the words that his teammates clearly were fueled by behind the scenes.
Not only did Draymond Green count out the Heat, but most if not all of the national media considered the Heat dead in the water. And they came out and won a huge game behind 47 points from Jimmy Butler in Game 6.
Bam Adebayo: “Everybody counted us out… Everybody thought the series was already over. That’s all the motivation we needed.”
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) May 28, 2022
It’s clear that the Heat are tired of the disrespect. Can the Heat muster up enough motivation to win Game 7? We’ll see.
Is it possible the Miami Heat social media team was bothered as well? This was a GOAT response: