The chip on Draymond Green's shoulder drove him from second-round NBA draft pick to three-time NBA All-Star.
The emotion and intensity the Warriors star plays with often takes his game to another level. But it can also tear him down if he lets it get the best of him.
The fire that Green plays with is a useful weapon more often than not. Green's always been an emotional player, but his high school coach, Bruce Simmons, tried to get him to use it in a positive way during his first season at Michigan State. It's a message that Green certainly took with him to the NBA.
"His freshman year at Michigan State, he got one minute against Ohio State," Simmons told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne. "He called and said, 'Coach Bruce, I'm going to transfer. F--- this s---.' And I said, 'Noooo. We don't do that. This is what you're going to do. You're going to go into practice. [Senior] Marquise Gray is getting your minutes. Bust his ass. Talk s--- to him. And then when you're doing that, look at Izzo, because Izzo is putting this [guy] on the court instead of you.'"
Green has been a little different during this playoff run for the Warriors. While still emotional, the three-time NBA champion has done his best to not let his emotions get the best of him. He hasn't received a technical foul since Game 2 of the Warriors' second-round NBA playoff series against the Houston Rockets, and that technical later was rescinded.
He credits his early-season incident with Kevin Durant, setting a good example for his son. and his fiancee, Hazel Renee, for his new and improved demeanor.
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Simmons and Green still talk to this day, and the high school coach has changed his tactics when advising his former player on how to wield his emotions.
"The older I've gotten, I've learned to deal logically with situations instead of with emotions," Simmons says. "So I tell him, 'Kid, you made it. You ain't that second-round kid trying to make a team. You made it. You're a big reason why Golden State is winning. So you gotta take that right path when you express yourself.'"
So far, Green has done that during the Warriors' playoff run.
With Durant nursing a calf injury, Green dominated the Western Conference finals against the Portland Trail Blazers and did it all in the Warriors' Game 2 NBA Finals win over the Toronto Raptors to tie the series at one.
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As the series shifts back to Oakland for Games 3 and 4, the Warriors might need Green to do even more.
Durant likely will still be out for Game 3 and Klay Thompson is questionable with a hamstring strain. Kevon Looney is out indefinitely with a non-displaced first costal cartilage fracture that he suffered in the first half in Game 2.
If the Warriors are without both Durant and Thompson for Wednesday's Game 3, the burden with fall on Green and Steph Curry to carry the Warriors to a win and a two-games-to-one series lead. With the way Green's been productively channeling his emotions, there's no reason to think he won't rise to the challenge.
