Draymond Green Says Difficulty Facing the Boston Celtics "Does Not Compare" To Playing Against LeBron James

The Golden State Warriors are currently up 3-2 in the NBA Finals against Boston Celtics. In a tenacious duel, the two teams have fought tooth and nail, every step of the way. The Celtics have one more chance to force a Game 7, should they come out winning Game 6 on Thursday.

Draymond Green recently spoke to press about how the Warriors are doing so far in their fight against the Celtics. Despite it being a hard-fought battle, Green has said that it “does not compare” to the mental challenge of facing against LeBron James. He said,

“It doesn’t compare to mentally playing against LeBron James, who I think is arguably the smartest guy to ever play this game.Not one of, he is arguably the smartest guy to set foot on a basketball court. To say that it compares to that, it’s disrespectful to LeBron and it’s a lie to you.

…[This is] not as much of a chess match as it is when you’re playing LeBron, who is dissecting every play in that computer of his, like in real-time. Like that’s just a skill that not many people possess. Not many people can come and sit here and find a random stretch from seven minutes to four minutes in the second quarter and give you every play like to the T and not miss a beat. There are not many people that can do that.”

While he does compliment James on his skills, Green reiterates that he does believe that the Celtics are a formidable opponent. He discusses his thoughts on the team saying, “They are super young and fast and strong, and all the things that we know and have heard throughout the course of this series. They are those things. And then obviously they are super talented, and so when you are facing that, you have to try to out-think a guy.” He adds that he thinks Marcus Smart is a star player “who is extremely smart, who it’s like a chess match going up against him. He is kind of the brain of that team. I think every team you kind of have that guy, that’s the brain of that team, and they have that in Marcus Smart, a guy who I have a tremendous amount of respect for and his basketball IQ. So it’s a challenge for sure.”

Watch his full response below.

Draymond Green was asked the mental challenge of facing Celtics vs. LeBron James:

"It doesn't compare. He is arguably the smartest guy to set foot on a basketball court. To say that it compares to that, it's disrespectful to LeBron & it's a lie to you."pic.twitter.com/jXCyULdW29

— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) June 15, 2022

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