The budding Draymond Green-Cedric Maxwell war of words is a delightful Finals sidebar
BOSTON -- Ultimately, the things that Cedric Maxwell and Draymond Green say into microphones won't mean a lick in the grand scheme of things. Or in the minor scheme of things. But that doesn't mean it's not entertaining.
The verbal sparring began when Cedric Maxwell spoke with Hall of Famer Gary Payton after the Warriors beat the Celtics in Game 2. In a candid moment on a video stream of some sort, Maxwell stated with conviction, "Let me just say this to you, and I'm gonna be as clear as I can: That s--- Draymond Green was doing? During the '80s he got knocked the f--- out. He woulda got knocked the f--- out."
That video found its way in front of Draymond Green's eyeballs, and when he spoke to the media on Tuesday, he responded rather thoroughly to Maxwell's suggestion. Here's what Green said:
I saw what Cedric Maxwell said, and one thing that baffles me about the '80s or the '90s or whatever you want to call it when basketball was so much more physical, is some of the guys that be talking weren't the guys that was punching people. Like, they act like guys was just walking around the court, like, I'm hitting this guy in the nose.
There were a few guys back then that would lay you out, that would knock you out, that would foul you and get thrown out the game -- Bill Laimbeer. Rick Mahorn. But everybody's running around acting like they were that. Y'all were getting bullied! And so it baffles me when every guy, just because they played in the '80s, just because they played in the '90s, is like, 'Man, if you played in our day, you'd get knocked out.' Like, no, not really, because it wouldn't be you.
So, OK, you're saying Rick Mahorn would have knocked me out? Rick Mahorn probably knocks you out. Like, Bill Laimbeer probably lays you out. So were there enforcers of that time? Of course! Would they have knocked you out? Of course. Their fine was also two dollars. You know, it's just not the same day and age. If I go and knock somebody out, I probably get fined a million dollars. Like it just don't work the same.
And so when guys get to making these comparisons or talking about, 'Oh, if you played in this day and age ... ' like yeah. And if you played in this day and age, you would have had to be way more skilled than you were. It's just different. Like comparing the physicality to the game and everybody acting like they were just the most physical and brutal enforcers, it's like everybody acting like they shoot the ball like Steph Curry today. You know, it's like ... then it was physical, now it's shooting. Everybody can't shoot the ball! Imagine me in 20 years, like, 'Man, if you played in my day, you had to shoot!' Like, yeah, guys did shoot better and more. But that don't mean you shot that well!
And so it just baffles me when guys get out here talking and they ain't got -- you know, we got YouTube. You can pull up them highlights and they ain't got no YouTube fights. You see them on the court getting bullied, but they talking about you woulda got punched in the face. These people be killing me. Y'all enjoy y'all day.
Of course, whenever someone says anything about anyone these days, the other person is clearly going to respond. Green did it to Maxwell ... and then Maxwell did it to Green.
Appearing on "Boston Sports Tonight" on Wednesday, Maxwell took some time to address Green's response. And he also brought receipts.
"That's really interesting that he would pick out a name like Rick Mahorn and he would pick out -- I think more than anybody -- he goes on to say Bill Laimbeer. Didn't we see Bill Laimbeer get beat down in front of us in the Garden with Robert Parish out there?" Maxwell said.
With a clip playing in which Maxwell was ripping Charles Barkley off Larry Bird, Maxwell said, "I'm over here. I'm trying to grab Charles Barkley by the neck, I'm putting him in a chokehold. This is the physicality of the game."
When the clip of Parish punching Laimbeer played, Maxwell narrated, "Wait a minute, Laimbeer's an intimidator ... yet boom, boom, BOOM."
Then, following a clip of James Worthy decking Maxwell in a Finals game played, came a clip of Maxwell beating up a fan who antagonized him courtside in Detroit.
"And this is still in litigation," Maxwell cracked. "I hope that white man is still alive. I'm not sure. But that was a whole 'nother thing that my teammates looked at. And I asked Robert Parish about this punch [of Laimbeer] and I said, 'Robert, weren't you afraid that other players are gonna come over and attack you?' And he said, 'I was thinking about that. But that's what they thought about him. They let me beat him down.'"
Maxwell clarified his overall point, saying that the game was simply a more physical one during his career.
"It's not about Draymond Green and I, but I was just pointing out in the '80s, there was some guys like Kermit Washington, there was a Hakeem Olajuwon, there were a bunch of guys who were mean, tough guys. And a lot of the shenanigans that's going on in the game right now with Draymond, that wouldn't have been tolerated during the '80s," Maxwell said.
The 66-year-old Maxwell -- who was the Finals MVP with the Celtics in 1981 -- closed with a suggestion on how Green can learn more about basketball history.
"You keep saying about nobody punched nobody ... you ask Charles Barkley what happened when he and I got in a fight down in Golden State when I was in L.A. with the Clippers," Maxwell said. "I've been in enough of those. Draymond wasn't even born when I was around playing, was he?! Let me see, let me do the math here. Draymond, ask your daddy who I was, OK? That's how that goes."
Again, it has quite literally nothing to do with the ongoing NBA Finals. But with two off-days between games, and with a lightning rod-type of figure in Draymond Green playing a prevalent role in the most recent game and becoming a focal point for Game 3 in the process, it's a welcome side story in what could and should be a memorable NBA Finals.
