Celtics players react to Draymond’s Game 1 podcast comments

Warriors

Celtics players react to Draymond’s Game 1 podcast comments

After reaching their sixth NBA Finals in eight seasons, it’s no surprise the Warriors are a confident bunch.

Even after his team’s shocking Game 1 stumble against the Boston Celtics at Chase Center in a 120-108 loss on Thursday, Golden State’s most vocal leader Draymond Green took to his podcast after the loss and said there was no need to hit the panic button.

And as Green does, he had a lot of other takeaways from the game during “The Draymond Green Show” — mainly that the Celtics were on fire from behind the 3-point line, but the shots came from unexpected players like Derrick White and Al Horford.

Steph Curry and Klay Thompson also seemed confident in Golden State’s ability to recover from the loss during their postgame comments.

On Saturday, members of the Celtics spoke to the media and addressed some of the Warriors’ remarks that appeared to view Boston’s offensive explosion as an anomaly.

“Hopefully we do the same thing tomorrow, you know what I’m saying,” Robert Williams said. “It’s always a hard-fought game when we play these guys. We have to stay together for 48 minutes and know that they are going to go on runs and we are going to go on runs, and [we] just have to withstand them.”

White, who was 6-of-11 shooting during Game 1 en route to 21 points with five threes, didn’t divulge whether or not Green’s comments gave him extra motivation heading into the second game of the Finals.

“I mean, we knew what their game plan was going in, so it’s just up to us to make shots. I mean, it is what it is,” White said on Saturday. “He said what he said. Just going into Game 2, just have the right mindset and whatever it takes to help us win games.”

Celtics guard Payton Pritchard didn’t buy what Green was selling.

“I’m not really listening to all that,” he told reporters. “I don’t think any of us are. We’re all NBA players at the end of the day, so we’re all capable of getting hot and making shots. I’ve seen those guys, D-White and Al put in the work, so I know what they’re capable of.”

In Warriors head coach Steve Kerr’s opinion, his players have enough Finals experience to cultivate an appropriate mindset when it comes to their opponent. The comments made after the game didn’t concern him, he told reporters.

“Draymond and Steph have been in the Finals six times now. They have seen it all,” Kerr said. “They have seen everything. They have won championships. They have lost championships. They have had their heart broken. They have had parades. This is all part of it. So, that’s the right mental approach, and that’s one that’s born out of experience.”

Kerr doesn’t believe the Warriors veterans meant to mock Boston at all.

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“I don’t think anything was said with any sort of disrespect or whatever. It’s nothing like that,” he said. “We know how good Boston is, and we have great respect for the way they played. I think you’ve got to look at that fourth quarter and say, job well done. Then you look at the tape and you go, well, here is where we can do better.

“As far as interviews and postgame coverage, that stuff is — our guys have been doing this for a long time.”

The Warriors can be sure the Celtics will come out firing again during Game 2 on Sunday at Chase Center, but Golden State is well-versed when it comes to bounce-back games.

They can only hope their confidence turns up on the court.

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