Miami Heat had extra motivation after they heard Golden State Warriors veteran star Draymond Green saying he expects to play the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals. Green made the statement on national TV after the Warriors clinched their place in the Finals.
The Heat came through in Gm 6 beating the Celtics after a series of backbreaking offensive plays in the crunch time forcing a Gm7, which will be played in front of the fans. After the game, Udonis Haslem and PJ Tucker called out Draymond for his statement.
“Draymond broke the code,” Haslem told Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes after the game. “You ain’t supposed to say some s–t like that. That’s disrespectful. He know better than that.”
Green appeared on TNT’s “Inside the NBA” postgame show after the Warriors’ Game 5 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night. He was pressed by Shaquille O’Neal as to which Eastern Conference team he thought the Warriors will meet in the Finals.
“If you’re asking me who I want to play, I’m going to tell you who I think we’re going to play,” Green said. “We’re going to play Boston. That’s who we’re going to play.”
“Tell Draymond I said, ‘Thank you,’” veteran Heat forward P.J. Tucker said to ESPN after Gm 6 win over Boston. However, the Heat seem to not need extra motivation despite the injury struggles throughout the series.
Miami beat the Cs at their turf without their second leading scorer Tyler Herro, who missed the last three games. PJ Tucker had 11 points, Max Strus added 11 after registering zero points the previous game.
“We’re going home [for Game 7],” Haslem told Haynes. “We did what we were supposed to do. Don’t ever count us out.”
Game 7 will take place on Sunday in a win or go home situation for both teams.
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