If there’s one person who doesn’t have to mince words with Draymond Green, it’s his former college basketball coach.
Michigan State’s Tom Izzo coached Green for four years in college and knows the Warriors forward quite well.
So when Green let his emotions get the best of him, as he did in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals against the Dallas Mavericks, he can expect to hear from Coach Izzo, who texted him after the game with some constructive feedback.
“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.
Green then read the text messages between him and the Michigan coach out loud.
“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.’ “
By the time Izzo had texted him, Green was already aware of how his behavior in Game 2 came across and moving forward, he knew he had to be better.
“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.”
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Izzo, as well as Warriors coach Steve Kerr and longtime teammates Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala certainly have the freedom to be as forthright with Green as they want. Green is always open to hearing constructive feedback, but when it comes from those he trusts and admires most, it carries a lot of weight.
Cooler heads prevailed in Game 3 on Sunday night at American Airlines Center with the Warriors beating the Mavericks 109-100 and now find themselves just one win away from advancing to their sixth NBA Finals in the past eight seasons.
