Draymond Green Rips Los Angeles Clippers: 'They Ain't Proved Nothing'

Lest there be any concern the typically red-hot rivalry between the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers might be cooling ahead of the postseason, Draymond Green made sure to stoke the fires.

Per Jonathan Abrams of Grantland.com, Green said of the Clips:

"

They have a cocky arrogance, like they’ve won something, and they haven’t done nothing. They pretty much been to the same spot in the playoffs we’ve been to. But they have this cockiness like you’re supposed to bow down to them. They ain’t proved nothing. They ain’t earned nothing. What respect have you earned?

"

First of all, Green's underlying criticism is factually correct.

The current Warriors core came together in the 2012-13 season, Green's rookie year. Since then, the Clippers have won as many playoff series as Golden State has: one. Both squads have advanced to the conference semifinals once, with the Clippers knocking off the Warriors in last year's first round to get there.

Green's Warriors have taken three of four from the Clippers this year, and every contest has featured the testiness we've grown to appreciate in the California rivalry.

Often, the Dubs' power forward has been right in the middle of things—like he was after Clippers reserve Dahntay Jones bumped him during a postgame interview on March 8.

The fallout featured an epic press conference from Green in which he zinged Jones relentlessly.

Then came a verbal back-and-forth between Green and Clippers head coach Doc Rivers that culminated in Green offering up his now infamous "cool story, Glenn" dismissal in a KNBR 680 radio interview, via Diamond Leung of Bay Area News Group:

Green sold T-shirts with the phrase emblazoned on them.

Even in contests that haven't involved Green, like the Warriors' 110-106 win in L.A. on March 31 (Green sat out to rest a sore shin), the acrimony hasn't been hard to spot, as Grantland's Bill Simmons noted:

If current playoff seeding holds true (still an uncertain proposition in the West), the Dubs and Clips could square off in a second-round series—assuming both survive their initial matchups. If things play out that way, we'll finally see one of the two reach the conference finals.

And if you expect that hypothetical series to settle the disputes between these two teams for good, you haven't been paying attention.

This is a rivalry that may never cool off.