Draymond Green is coming in hot with a prediction about this year’s West playoff race … and surprisingly one that does not have anything to do with his Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors big man said this week on an episode of his self-titled podcast for The Volume that he was predicting the Phoenix Suns to win Game 1 of their second-round matchup against Dallas … but for the Mavericks to ultimately win the series.
“This won’t be a cakewalk for the Suns,” said Green. “The Mavericks have a very good team, they’re playing really well, and they have Luka Doncic.
“Game 1, I am taking the Phoenix Suns to win the game,” Green went on. “Over the series, it’s a tough one because this Mavs team, I’m telling you, is not a pushover by any stretch of the imagination … If I have to pick one, I’m gonna pick the underdog. I’m gonna go with the Mavs. No underdog has won a series yet. At some point an underdog has to win a series, right? I’m gonna go with the Mavs.”
Green was right on the front end of his prediction. The Suns won Game 1 on Monday by the final of 121-114. But the Mavericks did indeed prove that they were no pushover either, clawing back from 21 points down to get within to five at one point. Game 1 took place in Phoenix as well, so all the Suns did was protect their homecourt.
The ex-Defensive Player of the Year Green is correct that the Mavericks have perhaps the single best player on the floor this series in Doncic, especially with Devin Booker still trying to work back from a hamstring injury. While Green has been giving some Suns hater vibes recently, the Mavericks have the three-point marksmen and the physical defenders flanking Doncic to turn this into a very competitive series in no time at all.
H/T NBA Reddit
