The NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics are heating up as the series returns to San Francisco for Game 5. But former NBA MVP Charles Barkley criticized the Warriors veteran Draymond Green for not showing up against the Celtics especially after the stick that he received from the Boston crowd at the TD Garden.
Green had a rough outing in the first two games of the final series therefore he was welcomed by the Boston crowd with hostile treatment. They kept him in check and affected the mental side of his game. The fans honestly got under his skin as he did not score enough points and kept on getting fouled out.
Barkley feels that Draymond Green is holding back the young guys where instead he should be inspiring them in the NBA FInals. Barkley calls out Green as calls him a distraction. Here’s what the former MVP told SiriusXM NBA’s Justin Termine and Eddie A Johnson regarding this, “I think he has become a distraction. And those young guys, he needs to be pumping up those young guys they’ve never been in a fight before.”
Chuck shared how Kaly Thompson and Steph Curry are battle hardened but the youngsters are confused and distracted as the crowd constantly called Draymond Green out on court. “I mean, obviously you think about it, Klay and Steph have been in a fight, but the young guys, they are distracted because they are asking questions about Draymond doing podcasts. You know the crowd is cursing him out.”
Lastly Chuck adds how the youngsters have never faced a hostile crowd though they faced Dallas and the crowd came out in numbers. He shares how Boston is a hostile crowd and Draymond did wrong as he threw gasoline on fire. “Dallas wasn’t a hostile environment, Dallas got a great crowd, but they’re not hostile. Boston, them people are hostile, so I think Draymond, he did a huge mistake throwing gasoline on the fire.”
For now it will be interesting to see which team comes up in Game 5 with the Warriors carrying that momentum or the Celtics keeping their record of not losing back to back matches in the playoffs intact. It will be a very tough battle.