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Draymond Green says Lakers used “gimmick defense” against him

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OAKLAND – Who had the Lakers showing up on Christmas and blowing out the Warriors on national television?

Anyone? Bueller?

As we’re sure you know, that was the case Tuesday night. The Lakers lost LeBron James early in the third quarter to a groin sprain and still left the building with a 26-point win.

The Oakland side of the box score is ugly one. Klay Thompson ended the night with five points on seven shots. Stephen Curry totaled 15 points after a 5-for-17 night from the floor. Draymond Green posted four points, five assists and five rebounds in 25 minutes.

“I kinda fucked our whole offense up and it kinda messed the flow of the game up,” Green told reporters following the loss. “They was playing that gimmick defense and I was really hesitant to shoot and hesitant to make plays. I just wasn’t aggressive enough. It allowed the gimmicks to work. And then it kinda threw everyone else out of a rhythm and we never found a rhythm after that.”

Green wasn’t explicit about what he meant but the context clues tell us the ‘gimmick defense’ the Lakers used is one that teams have employed in the past against the most offensively-challenged member of Golden State’s closing unit. The basic premise is to leave Green unmarked when he gets the ball at the 3-point line and dare him to shoot.

There were a few times during the game that the Lakers did that, and left Green completely unguarded at the 3-point line. Like no-one-within-10-feet-of-Green unguarded. At one point during the game Green held the ball, seemingly uncertain of what he should do with it, before taking a couple dribbles and throwing up a mid-range floater. The shot missed, and the Lakers were on the break.

So what does he need to do the next time a team plays that defense against him?

“Do SOMETHING right away,” Green said. “Something. Now what that is is to be determined when the play happens, but do something right away.”

The Warriors will try to re-group on Wednesday before hosting another Western Conference playoff hopeful in the Portland Trail Blazers Thursday night.