Draymond Green responds to Cedric Maxwell’s comments on physicality originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Celtics had plenty to say about Draymond Green’s Game 2 antics, but no one was more critical of the Golden State Warriors star than C’s great Cedric Maxwell.
Maxwell, a two-time NBA champion with Boston in 1981 and 1984, called out Green for instigating dust-ups with Grant Williams and Jaylen Brown.
“Let me just say this to you, and I am going to be as clear as I can,” Maxwell said. “That (expletive) Draymond was doing? During the 1980s, he’d (have) got knocked the (expletive) out.”
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Green caught wind of Maxwell’s comments and didn’t hold back in his lengthy response. He took issue Maxwell and other former NBA players comparing today’s game to back when they played in the league.
It baffles me when every guy, just because they played in the ’80s, just because they played in the ’90s, is like, man, if you played in our day, you’d get knocked out. No, not really, because it wouldn’t be you.
Draymond Green on Cedric Maxwell’s comments
“One thing that baffles me about the ’80s or the ’90s, or whenever you want to call it when basketball was so much more physical, is some of the guys that be talking weren’t the guys that were punching people,” Green said on Tuesday. “They act like guys was just walking around the court, like, I’m hitting this guy in the nose.
“There were a few guys back then that would lay you out, that would knock you out, that would foul you and get thrown out the game. Bill Laimbeer. Rick Mahorn. But everybody running around acting like they were that. Y’all were getting bullied. So it baffles me when every guy, just because they played in the ’80s, just because they played in the ’90s, is like, man, if you played in our day, you’d get knocked out. No, not really, because it wouldn’t be you.
“Okay, so you’re saying Rick Mahorn would have knocked me out? Rick Mahorn probably knocks you out. Bill Laimbeer probably lays you out. So were there enforcers of that time? Of course. Would they have knocked you out? Of course. Their fine was also $2. It’s just not the same day and age. If I go knock somebody out, I probably get fined a million dollars. It just don’t work the same.
“When guys get to making these comparisons or talking about, oh, if you played in this day and age, like yeah. And if you played in this day and age you would have had to be way more skilled than you were. It’s just different.”
He didn’t stop there. He wrapped up his rant with an analogy to emphasize just how much the game has changed since guys like Maxwell were in the NBA.
“Comparing the physicality of the game and everybody acting like they were just the most physical and brutal enforcers, it’s like everybody acting like they shoot the ball like Steph Curry today,” Green added. “You know, it’s like then it was physical, now it’s shooting. Everybody can’t shoot the ball. Imagine me in 20 years, like, man, if you played in my day you had to shoot. Like, yeah, guys did shoot better and more. But that don’t mean you shot that well.
“So it just baffles me when guys get out here talking and they ain’t got — we got YouTube. You can pull up them highlights and they ain’t got no YouTube fights. You see them on the court getting bullied, but they talking about you ain’t got punched in the face. These people be killing me.”
Cedric Maxwell responded Tuesday night on Boston Sports Tonight with Felger and Holley.
The Celtics will need to “fight fire with fire,” as Marcus Smart put it, to counter Green’s physicality in Game 3. Tip-off for the pivotal matchup is set for 9 p.m. ET Wednesday night at TD Garden.
