Draymond Green and CJ McCollum Explain Trash Talk

The Portland Trail Blazers and Golden State Warriors may be in heated competition with one another, but the exchange of words between players has been jocular on and off the court. After a series opener that featured a blown dunk from Golden State forward Draymond Green and a little jawing from both sides, he and Portland guard CJ McCollum explain the banter in their respective post-game interviews:

Draymon Green

Tim Kawakami (Mercury News): Was there any extra yapping going on? It looked like maybe you and McCollum and (Damian) Lillard and maybe another couple guys were getting into it, and did McCollum specifically say something to you after you missed that huge dunk attempt? It looked like he was gesturing to you a little bit.

Green: Yeah, he told me I needed to do more calf raises. We were talking back-and-forth the entire game, but that’s, you know, that’s just a part of the game. It’s mutual respect both ways. We played those guys last year in a series, but quite a bit over the last four or five years where you kind of know them, they know you, but we all know each other off the floor as well. It’s not like it’s anyone out there being disrespectful towards another. It’s simple fun. You talk, he hit a shot, he’s talking to us; I hit a shot, I’m talking to them; I missed a dunk, he’s telling me I need to do calf raises. It’s good back-and-forth. It makes the game a lot funner, that’s for sure.

CJ McCollum

Casey Holdahl (Trailblazers.com): The trash talk tonight—Draymond had mentioned, CJ, that you told him to do some calf raises. Just the nature of the discussion on the court tonight.

McCollum: Yeah, he does need to do some calf raises after that dunk. […] It’s a game. It’s a game we all love. We come out here, we represent our teams to the best of our abilities, representing our hometowns where everybody's from, and where I’m from, if you talk trash to me I’m going to talk trash to you. There’s nothing disrespectful. We’re not talking about nobody’s mamas or anything like that, but I’ve known Draymond since he was at Michigan State. He’s a little chubbier since he was chubby at Michigan State now. He’s done really well with himself and he’s worked hard and he’s one of the best defenders in the NBA, but if I see something that I want to say, I’m going to say it. And he going to do the same thing.

Everyone will have another opportunity to put their money where there mouth is in Game 2 of the NBA playoff series, which tips off on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Pacific time.