In a recent showdown against the Phoenix Suns, Draymond Green found himself in familiar territory, facing off against Jusuf Nurkic for the first time since his suspension in December for striking the Bosnian center in the head. The altercation between Green and Nurkic led to Green’s indefinite suspension and a subsequent absence from 16 games.
The tension between Green and Nurkic resurfaced during their latest encounter, with Nurkic taunting Green after scoring over him with the ‘too small’ gesture.
However, Green wasted no time in retaliating, swiftly responding with his own ‘too small’ taunt after scoring over Nurkic less than a minute later.
Reflecting on the exchange during a recent episode of The Draymond Green Show, the four-time NBA champion expressed his disdain for Nurkic’s actions, repeatedly referring to him as ‘the little guy.’
Green criticized Nurkic’s performance on the court, highlighting instances where Nurkic failed to capitalize on his size advantage against smaller defenders.
“The little guy goes in the media and he says ‘I take my words back. He doesn’t deserve another chance. It’s only a matter of time before he hits someone else.’ And quite frankly, I would like to know why is it only a matter of time before I hit someone else,” Green said. “Because I destroyed him? Because what in that game that happened with me would make him say something like that other than getting embarrassed because you’re just not good enough.”
“You’re not good enough offensively, you had Steph Curry on post-ups and you got nothing,” Green continued. “Quite frankly, outweighs me by 80 pounds and six inches taller than me. That’s one thing.
“Outweighs Steph Curry by about 120 pounds and about nine inches taller than him and could not score on him on the block. Towers over Klay about five inches, outweighs Klay by about 90 to 100 pounds, could not score on Klay Thompson on the block.”
Green also broke down Nurkic’s play that led to two points and him taunting the Golden State Warriors forward, saying that the Suns big man failed to use his physical advantage.
“Little guy tries to post up, tries to back me down only to shoot a hook shot from the dotted, not the restricted area. From the dotted line in the paint, which means you made no progress on getting towards the rim,” Draymond said. “Shoots a nasty hook shot for his sixth point of the game and decides to do an overtly ‘too small’ celebration slapping the floor, the whole thing. And quite frankly, you’re just not good enough to do things like that.”
The Golden State Warriors forward emphasized that Nurkic’s actions were disrespectful to the game of basketball and to the players involved.
“I watched that same little guy play against someone not long before us and they shoted three and he stood under the rim and waved at him and got the rebound. And quite frankly, you see clowns like that do thinks like that and it’s actually very disrespectful to the game, is disrespectful to the player that you’re doing it to.”
