Draymond Green On The Blazers: “They’re Always a Threat”

After Portland’s 125-108 victory over the Warriors Friday night, Draymond Green raved about the Blazers’ back-court. In a short postgame clip with The Athletic’s Anthony Slater, Green discussed the challenge of shutting down Portland’s duo of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. They combined for 58 points, 9 assists and 8 rebounds Friday night, and 73 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds and 2 steals in another win over the Warriors on Valentine’s Day.

Here’s a transcript, courtesy of Chris Biderman at Warriors Wire:

“They’re always a threat. They got two of the best guards in the league (Lillard and McCollum),” Green told said to reporters. “So when you got two players like they got, always a threat. … So they’ve improved for sure. But none the less, the key is always going to be to try to contain Dame and C.J. If you can do that, you can win. If you can’t do that, you got a shot at winning but it ain’t that good.”

After last night’s victory, the Blazers won the season series over the NBA Champions, 2-1. The teams are very familiar with each other; the Warriors have eliminated the Blazers from the playoffs in the last two seasons, 4-1 in the 2016 second round and 4-0 in the 2017 first. With Golden State in second place and Portland in third, if the season ended today they’d be favored to face off again in the second round.