‘Of course’ Draymond Green believes the Blazers are done

At first, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green’s comments following a thrilling overtime win that gave his team a 3-1 series lead against the Portland Trailblazers might seem inflammatory.

“Do I think they’re done?” Green told the media. “Of course I think they’re done.”

I believe it was famous philosopher Mila Kunis who once opined, “Confidence, not cockiness. Knowing who you are is confidence. Cockiness is knowing who you are and pushing it down everyone’s throat.”

Well, Draymond Green is both.

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Golden State hasn’t lost consecutive outings since Games 2 and 3 of the 2015 finals, and the Warriors haven’t lost three straight with a healthy Curry since March 2013, so it’s hard to imagine Portland pulling that off now, especially since two of the three remaining games are at Oracle Arena, where Golden State lost twice all season. The current Warriors’ series win probability is 98.4 percent, and that seems low.

Still, you have to wonder whether Green saying things like, “I wanted to give them bulletin-board material,” which he did say, will catch up to him one day. After all, this is the same guy who said of the Cleveland Cavaliers after winning the title last year, “Cavaliers? Nope. We won? Yup. They suck? Yup.” 

Monday night’s win seemed to suggest the Warriors and Cavaliers are on a collision course for a finals rematch, so long as Golden State survives the winner of San Antonio Spurs-Oklahoma City Thunder.

So, you also wonder if Green will be so cocky and confident when discussing those three teams or whether he’ll wait until a series is well in hand or even over before making any guarantees going forward.

The guess here is that Green’s stripes won’t change. He’ll continue to talk trash, pushing his teammates to put their money where his mouth has been. And that’s generally been a good thing if you’re Golden State, because it’s an attitude like his that has helped elevate a great team to a historical one.

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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach