WATCH: Draymond Green, Tom Izzo share touching moment ahead of NBA Finals Game 2
Before Draymond Green became a multi-time NBA All-Star and NBA Champion, he was a young moldable piece of clay ready to work with Michigan State coach Tom Izzo. Green committed to the Spartans out of high school and wound up playing for four years at MSU.
His accolades speak for themselves at the college level. Green earned All-Big Ten Defensive honors as well as winning the big Ten Sixth Man of the Year award one year, before he won the conference Player of the Year award as a senior. He also made three Elite Eights and back-to-back Final Four appearances during his Spartan career, which last from the 2008-09 season until 2012.
So it’s safe to say Green developed quite a bond with Izzo while wearing the green and white.
Green’s old coach showed up at Sunday’s NBA Finals Game 2 to support Green and enjoy the highest level of basketball the sport has to offer. But before the game, Izzo tracked Green down to give him a pep talk and some encouraging pats on the butt.
Always great to see successful pro players pay an homage to the college coaches that helped them along their journey. It’s cool that Green, one of the most accomplished current players in the NBA, still holds a reverence for a great collegiate coach like Izzo, who surely helped point Green in the right direction when he was younger. He’s definitely got some of that snide nastiness to his game that Izzo always brings out of his MSU teams.
Green, Warriors blowout Celtics to even series 1-1
As for the actual Game 2 of the Finals, the Warriors clapped back on Sunday night. The game actually went similarly to the first between these two. Boston jumped on top in the first quarter, but not by too much. Golden State quickly came back and the two traded blows until halftime, where Golden State held a 52-50 advantage at the break.
Like they did in the first contest, Golden State came out of halftime as flamethrowers. They poured it on Boston from deep as Steph Curry drained several of his patented circus-shot threes and Jordan Poole knocked down two ridiculous deep balls as well, including one from nearly half court to beat the buzzer and put GSW up by 23 points heading into the fourth.
Their lead wasn’t quite so large after three in Game 1, but they held a double-digit advantage, yet allowed the Celtics to storm back and take control late. There was none of that in Game 2. Curry and co. kept their foot on the gas pedal to maintain a 20+ point lead. Eventually they won, 107-88, to even up the series as one apiece as the teams head back to Boston.