Warrior Wonder: Treymond makes an appearance at Oracle on Monday

Playing against the Miami Heat, a team that likes to slow things down to play methodically and features a good big man in Hassan Whiteside, the Warriors were going to need a lot from Draymond Green if they wanted to earn a victory on Monday night at Oracle. And that’s exactly what they received as Green turned in a strong all-around performance to help the Warriors to a 17-point victory.

Early in the game, Green made his greatest contributions through his scoring. After starting the season on a prolonged offensive cold streak, Green has been steadily contributing more, especially from 3-point range. Here we see both Green’s good defense on Miami big man Hassan Whiteside as well as his ability to knock down a long-range shot.

In a first quarter that saw the Warriors build a lead and then give it back due to some horrifically poor shooting, Green would be the steady offensive force. Green would be the only Warriors player to make more than one field goal, scoring two from 3-point range paired with two made free throws as well. With Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson both scuffling a bit to start the game on the offensive end, it was important to get that scoring boost from Green so the Warriors could keep pace with Miami and not have to make up any enormous deficits.

Green’s scoring continued in the second quarter with five more points (to push his total at that point to 15) and, by the time halftime rolled around, he’d also grabbed seven rebounds as the Warriors extended a one-point lead at the end of the first quarter to a 13-point one at halftime.

Green’s contributions in this game, however, were not limited to his scoring. Green’s defense was also exceptional in Monday night’s game. The Warriors effectively shut down the Heat’s front-court duo of Whiteside and Winslow. Each was held to single-digits in points and shot poorly from the field as well. Whiteside in particular struggled mightily because of Green’s defense, scoring a season-low 3 points on 1-9 shooting the night after putting in 21 points against the Los Angeles Clippers.

It was a night for the Warriors defense to shine, and they put in one of their best performances against the Heat, as reflected by these numbers at the point when the competitive potion of the game was more-or-less over.

Only one starter for the Heat (Goran Dragic) cracked double-figures in scoring and only three players on the entire Heat squad scored 10 or more points. Anytime the Warriors put up a defensive effort like that, and when they are able to control a game in which they shoot under 40% from the field, you know that’s largely because of the play of the reigning Defensive Player of the Year.

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Green would punctuate his great night by grabbing a defensive rebound and then drilling the 3-pointer in transition.

That made bucket was Green’s fourth 3-pointer of the night, a season-high for made 3-pointers thus far into the 2017-18 campaign and effectively put a cap on both Green’s night and this game.

Green would end up scoring a season-high 18 points while also grabbing 9 rebounds and blocking one shot. His assist total was unusually low for him as he only had two but I believe that was owing more to Curry, Thompson, and Kevin Durant all shooting under 40% from the field against the Heat. But most importantly, Green was able to give the Warriors offense when their three main weapons were struggling and lead a defensive effort that was good enough to give the Warriors a 97-80 victory.