Draymond Green Must Step Up to Elevate Scuffling Golden State Warriors Offense

The Golden State Warriors offense has been uncharacteristically off-kilter through two games against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals, and sudden regression by combo forward Draymond Green hasn't helped matters. 

With 82 combined minutes under his belt and the series tied 1-1, Green hasn't been able to take advantage of the open looks afforded to him by Cleveland's aggressive defensive scheme that's honed in on stopping Stephen Curry at all costs. 

The offseason max-contract candidate scored a meager 10 points Sunday night, with six of them coming at the free-throw line. Five of his seven field-goal attempts wound up off the mark, as the Warriors shot 39.8 percent from the field and 22.9 percent from three, marking just the third time all season opponents held Golden State to a conversion rate below 40 percent. 

It was the kind of performance that raised pressing questions. And one of the biggest following the Warriors as they head to Cleveland for Game 3 Tuesday revolves around the supporting cast's ability to conjure up regular-season-level efficiency when Cleveland is smothering Curry. 

"They’re hounding Curry as soon as he crosses half court, and then again on the pick-and-roll, with two defenders stringing him out toward the sideline," Grantland's Zach Lowe wrote. "They’ve forced the ball from his hands and turned Green into a playmaker—a task at which he mostly failed in Game 2, when he flung lob passes to the sky."

Whether it's a case of jitters or failed execution, Green's inability to seize open opportunities has been hard to ignore. While Klay Thompson held up his end of the bargain in Game 2 by scoring 34 points on 14-of-28 shooting (4-of-12 from three), Green severely lagged behind. 

And it wasn't due to a lack of touches. 

Game	PTS	FGM	FGA	REB	AST	TO	STL	BLK
Game 1	12	4	13	6	3	1	2	0
Game 2	10	2	7	10	2	4	5	4

Green recorded 81 touches in Game 1 and 89 in Game 2, meaning Curry is the only Warriors player who's handled the rock more in the Finals, according to SportVU player-tracking data. 

The problems—and it can't be stressed enough that they've developed over a short period and represent a tiny sample size—revolve around shooting. 

Boiled down, Green hasn't hit open shots. Like so many of his teammates, Green's rhythm has been syncopated, and as a result, it's produced shoddy results. 

Just take a look at his cumulative shot chart in the Finals, courtesy of NBA.com: 

Credit: NBA.com/Stats

Every one of Green's attempts outside the restricted area has resulted in a miss, and even when he has been close to the rim, his production has underwhelmed.

"You have to give them some type of credit, but I wouldn't give them all the credit," Green said following Game 2, according to USA Today's Sam Amick. "We missed some open shots. We missed some contested ones, but we missed some open ones. The same shots that we missed, we'll take. We've got to go get one (in Cleveland). Hopefully two, but we've definitely got to go get one."

He's not kidding about the open shots. 

According to SportVU, Green is shooting 2-of-6 on uncontested field goals against the Cavs. But as ESPN.com's Tom Haberstroh notes, that inefficiency isn't limited to Green:  

Since Cleveland has been determined to frustrate Curry as much as possible, those misses loom large.  

"Green needs to make more functional plays on those 4-on-3s when Curry entrusts the offense to him, and, holy heck, would just one pick-and-pop 3 be a welcome sight for the Dubs," Lowe wrote.  

All year, Green has been a reliable weapon in setting screens for Curry at the top of the arc and then flaring beyond the three-point line as teams hedge hard to contain the MVP. But against the Cavaliers, those shots haven't dropped at regular-season rates. 

Through 79 regular-season appearances, Green hit threes above the break at a 34.3 percent clip, including 38.8 percent mark from straightaway. Thus far, it's been no-go from those zones with a championship on the line.  

The same goes for mid-range looks.  

"The Cavs will live with turning Green (or Bogut) into a playmaker, or even better, hoisting a mid-range jumper," Bleacher Report's Jared Dubin wrote. "They're often reluctant to do that. Green instead has been attacking with his dribble against a defense that is content to let him do so."

Andrew D. Bernstein/Getty Images

Green also needs to be more careful as a facilitator.

In Game 2, he committed four turnovers and finished with half as many assists. Two of those giveaways came via misguided lobs on clean dives in the pick-and-roll—plays that were ripe for silky floaters in the lane. But as Dubin noted, Green has been hesitant to hoist those shots directly below and around the free-throw line.

So as long as the Cavaliers are amping up the pressure on Curry, opportunities for Green to make an impact will be available. He's earned the right to be trusted with a heavy share of the playmaking duties, and as the first two games have indicated, open looks won't be hard to come by as Cleveland attempts to pick its poison and solve the NBA's most well-rounded offense.

And while Green may not be able to reinstate offensive normalcy all by his lonesome, some calm, cool and collected knockdowns on a consistent basis could do wonders for the Warriors as they seek to regain control on Cleveland's home floor. 

All statistics are current as of June 8 and courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com unless noted otherwise. 

Alec Nathan covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @AlecBNathan.