The Warriors' defensive "issues" suddenly put DeMarcus Cousins in the spotlight -- and not the kind some of us crave. Boogie has been on the end of some criticisms surrounding the team's defense -- or lack thereof.
Following a strong night for the four-time All-Star in the Warriors' 122-105 win over the Nuggets on Friday, Draymond Green passionately came to his teammate’s defense.
"Everybody wants to talk s--- about DeMarcus' defense," Green told the media after the game at Oracle Arena. "I told y'all last game, we haven't played with energy -- or at practice. Everybody wanna [say], 'It's a problem when DeMarcus is out there.' Yet everyone picked the energy up, all of a sudden no one is talking about DeMarcus' problems defensively. Now it's a good matchup for him. That's bulls--- to me."
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Green even said a fire seemed to be lit underneath his teammate.
"I think it pissed him off," Green said. "He's a competitor. He's one of those guys that's been misunderstood his whole career because he competes and he wears his emotions on his sleeve.
“And saying that, like I said before, our entire team played better defense. Everyone wants to single one guy out, but yet our entire team defense was horrible the last two weeks. And so everybody picked that up tonight, and obviously, he shined on that end as well, but everyone picked it up."
Green also said the Warriors’ defense has been "middle of the pack" all season. And with Boogie being out all that time with his Achilles injury, it was easy to pick on him.
Golden State Warriors
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"So it was good for everybody to pick it up on that side of the ball and then for him to have the defensive performance that he had,” Green said.
Draymond’s got your back, Boogie.
