SAN FRANCISCO -- Draymond Green's fourth NBA All-Star Game selection earlier this season had a special meaning. After having what he called the worst year of his life playing basketball in the 2019-20 season, the Warriors star created a two-year plan where he made a goal of getting back to playing what he considers acceptable basketball last season before being determined to be an All-Star this season, which he believed would lead to winning his second Defensive Player of the Year award and him winning a fourth ring for Golden State.
He checked off that All-Star box and was on pace to run away with the DPOY before sustaining a back injury that had him out for two months. Draymond, after missing 36 games this season, finished 10th in voting and received just two third-place votes. He said Monday night that he was "extremely happy" for winner and Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart, though he did tease he has some complaints on the voting that he'd talk about on the next episode of his podcast.
That's one big box checked, and one that deep down he knows would have been checked as well.
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After the Warriors' dominant 126-106 Game 2 win over the Denver Nuggets on Monday night in their first-round playoff series, Green might as well be sharpening his No. 2 pencil for that third box.
Through the first two games of the series, he's putting on a playoff clinic, all while making Nikola Jokic look mortal and more frustrated than he could have ever expected.
Klay Thompson called his teammate the "best defender in the world" after the Warriors' Game 1 win. After Game 2, he said Draymond's the "best defender I've ever seen." Steve Kerr called Green a Hall of Famer following the Warriors' Game 1 blowout and said he's "one of the best players in the league." But after Game 2, Kerr basically was at a loss for words.
"Draymond, I don't know what to say about him," Kerr said. "You just don't look at the stat sheet because it doesn't mean anything. Draymond dominated that game."
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Green played 30 minutes. He scored six points, grabbed three rebounds, had six assists, three steals and one block. Jokic scored 26 points, had 11 rebounds, four assists, one steal and two blocks. Draymond is averaging 9.0 points, 7.5 assists, 4.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 2.0 blocks through the first two games. Jokic is averaging 25.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists. 2.0 steals and 1.5 blocks.
And Draymond's dominating.
When defended by Green, Jokic is shooting 32 percent. He's 9-for-32, has missed all eight of his 3-point attempts, only has three assists when guarded by him and has turned the ball over three times. Jokic is a minus-45, Green is a plus-41.
In Game 1, Jokic was complaining to the referees all game. In Game 2, he was ejected.
Point, Draymond.
You already knew Green was going to soak up the moment, too.
"He loves a challenge," Steph Curry said. "Draymond loves a challenge."
Jokic wasn't his only victim. Kerr said prior to Game 1 that Green was bouncing off the walls. He needed game day. Waiting two years was long enough.
As the Nuggets nearly went to blows on the sidelines, there Draymond was -- clapping, running to the middle of the court and getting the Chase Center crowd on its feet. There he was again, with 4:46 left in the game, blowing kisses as his Warriors were blowing out the Nuggets.
"They're out there laughing, dancing around," Nuggets guard Monte Morris said. "It's just embarrassing."
Just five weeks ago, Green returned from a back/disc injury that had him shelved for 31 games. He could barely walk and lift his toes when he first sustained the injury. Two weeks before his return, he couldn't even dunk a basketball.
Upon his return, he looked like a shell of himself, too. His body was behind his mind. It couldn't catch up, and the realization was hard to fathom.
But as the season wound down, Draymond ramped up. Glimpses of himself became more and more consistent. With a month's work of games back on his body, Playoff Draymond is here and just as he envisioned it.
"I feel incredible," Green said when asked about his injury Monday night. "This was definitely the way I hoped it would happen. I was hoping coming back with a month left in the season, that I could round into playoff form, and I feel pretty good. I feel great. I mean, my conditioning is getting there. Got tired a couple times tonight but also got like 285 pounds laying on me, so that's a different beast but nonetheless, I feel great.
"I'm past the injury. That's a thing of the past. Just got to continue to do what I do, and continue to bring force and energy to the game and I feel fine and the energy is behind me."
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His coach was gushing at his Game 2 performance and referred to him as "one of the most unique, powerful and impactful players I've ever seen." Watch one possession, on offense or defense, and you'll agree. He's 6-foot-6 with a 7-foot-1 wingspan and an infuriating basketball mind that spins its web all across his opponents.
He's a pain to play, and the Warriors aren't the Warriors without him. This is a playoff clinic to the highest degree, and Draymond's only just begun.