Those Game 7s were a dud, but that doesn’t dilute the outstanding performances from the second round that deserve recognition

Yes, Game 6 Klay was in full effect on Friday night, but the person who made the Warriors go — in that game and the rest of the series — was Green. During some of my NBA podcast walks I heard a version of this question: Would the Warriors be better off with Green on the bench to bring in some extra scoring?

A truly moronic take. There’s a reason that the Warriors finished the season with the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference and not the Grizzlies. Green’s injury cost him 25 games shortly after the start of the new year. At that point the Warriors were in contention for first place in the West prior to the injury, and his performance showed why. He understands and executes team defense maybe better than anyone I’ve ever seen. Green always knows where to go, when to show, when to rotate, when to deflect. He’s a master on that side of the ball and doubles as the Warriors’ top playmaker. Who cares if he’s not a 3-point threat, he runs that offense and if his teammates’ threes aren’t falling, he can set them up for easy baskets. He and the Warriors are, and have always been, perfect for each other.

Without Big Al in Game 4, the Celtics go down 3-1, and are likely on their way out of the NBA Playoffs. Instead, he had the offensive game of his life, scoring 30 points and cashing in some monster threes. That would be the last big offensive game from Horford, but was able to put in some timely baskets even though he wouldn’t make a three after Game 4.

He showed his worth all series while holding down Giannis Antetokounmpo as much as one human being possibly can. As agile and strong as Antetokounmpo is, Horford made his presence felt and proved that he could be for the Celtics on defense what he was during his previous stint with the team, a player who can make the modern NBA big work and still be able to switch onto a perimeter player when necessary. Going into Game 7 when Jrue Holiday and Antetokounmpo were guarded by Horford they shot a combined 39.4 percent from the field on shots that he contested. The 2007 national champion as a junior is still a force on a basketball court.

He tried so very hard, but the Bucks did not have enough. Without Khris Middleton, there was not enough offense, not enough playmaking, and really not enough length to finish off the Celtics. Antetokounmpo certainly put in the effort on both sides of the ball like always. He took some ill-advised threes, but he also made some. Also, he took those shots because he had to create some variety on offense. Him launching himself into the paint works a lot of the time, but it can’t work every time.

Antetokounmpo scored 40 points in three of the seven games. To try and close out the Celtics at home on Friday, he shot a blistering 93.3 percent from the free throw line. And through all of his lugging the Bucks’ offense along, he was still a force with Brook Lopez on defense.Together they put a no fly zone on the painted area, and Antetokounmpo was still able to contest jump shots.

If they could have pulled out Friday’s game, we would be considering Antetokounmpo one of the best playoff performers of all time, and we still should. It’s just too much to play against the best defensive team in the league while missing Middleton’s All-Star production.

He has grown up so fast. A player who was fun to watch during his rookie season has, in year four, at the least met every expectation for him prior to coming into the NBA, and at best has become the league’s top perimeter player. When the Mavericks were struggling early in the year, it was Dončić who took a hard look in the mirror and decided to make some changes.

The Mavericks rode him, and eventually that Porziņģis trade, to a stunning turnaround 52-win season. His teammates held the fort down long enough for him to recover from injury in their first-round series against the Utah Jazz and he would proceed to likely finish off the Rudy Gobert, and Donovan Mitchell version of that team.

Then against the Suns, while it was an up and down series for him efficiency wise, he still made whatever play his team needed in their four victories against the team with the best record in the NBA. Whether it was setting up his teammates while they were on fire in Game 4 from the 3-point line, or leading the charge as the Mavericks blew the doors off of the Suns in both Game 6 and then incinerated them in Game 7. The final game was the best as it only took Dončić 19 shots to give the Suns their worst loss of the 2021-22 season. A deficit that climbed to over 40 points at times, and Dončić had the same score as the entire Suns team at halftime, 27 points.

He took some bad shots in Game 5 that helped allow the Bucks to come back from a 14-point deficit early in the fourth quarter and take what would appear to be a back breaking 3-2 lead, with Game 6 in Milwaukee.

The collapse was about to happen again in the fourth, midway through the quarter as the Bucks cut the Celtics’ lead to two possessions. Then if you thought Tatum was impressive in the first round outplaying Kevin Durant, him ending the Bucks season over the next four quarters was downright legendary stuff.

Tatum scored every point for the Celtics from right after the Bucks cut the score to 85-81 until he buried a three a few minutes later to put his team up 95-87 and they would never look back. His jump shot was on tilt and it continued into Game 7, where he would go 5-9 from the 3-point line and the Celtics would devour the Bucks in a 109-81 rout. And even though Tatum was hot, he let everybody get a bite of the apple. Grant Williams was open all night behind the 3-point line and ended up leading the Celtics in scoring. Tatum had eight assists to go with his 23 points in a night he didn’t force the action, and ended up sitting comfortably on the sidelines as the Celtics moved on to the Eastern Conference Finals.

I mean, who was more successful in the second round of the NBA playoffs than the Phoenix Suns from 2005-2010. The Suns played in three of six Western Conference Finals during that time, two of those years being Nash’s back-to-back MVP years. He never got to the finals, and might not as a head coach either, but hey when he was at his best, you weren’t beating the Suns in round two.

I digress. Green proved that an NBA game can be dominated by a player who doesn’t score 20 points per game. He brought it every night for the Warriors, making all of his teammates’ lives easier on both ends of the court, and doing his absolute best to cause as much misery as possible for the Grizzlies and their faithful. Then he topped his second-round performance off with his only double-digit scoring game in the series —14 points — and helped boost the Warriors’ struggling rebounding with 15 boards. He would get more credit for that if Looney didn’t go Dennis Rodman and grab 22.

Don’t ever underestimate again what Green means to the Warriors. They all need each other for this to work, but for it to work they absolutely need him, and now they should probably be the favorites to win the NBA Championship.