Draymond Green Trolls Tari Eason Video After Warriors Eliminate Rockets from Playoffs
Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green trolled Houston Rockets forward Tari Eason's "Warriors" video after the Dubs defeated Houston four games to three in their NBA first-round Western Conference playoff series.
The video's origin stems from March 27, 2024, when the Rockets defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 132-126 in overtime to win 10 straight and move to 37-35 overall, just one game behind the Warriors for 10th place in the West and the final play-in spot at the time.
Eason then produced a video channeling an infamous scene from the 1979 cult classic film, The Warriors, when the movie's antagonist, Luther, taunts the gang referenced in the movie's name.
The rest of the 2023-24 season didn't go well for Houston, which finished the season losing six of 10 games to go 41-41. Golden State, meanwhile, went 8-2 down the stretch to clinch the play-in spot by five games over Houston, ending 46-36.
The regular season's finish featured Eason doubling down on his comment with a Warriors shirt in an April 4 home game that ended in a 133-110 Golden State victory.
Fast forward to this year's playoffs and Game 4, when Green and Eason got into a heated confrontation. Green ended up with a flagrant, while Eason got a technical.
So Eason's video didn't age well, as Green noted, but the young Rockets squad certainly didn't go down without a fight. They took Golden State to the limit and even got some respect from Green too.
"Gained a lot of respect for them," Green told Kelly Iko of The Athletic after the series ended Sunday. "We played them in regular-season games, but you don't really know someone until you play them in a playoff series. I think we got to know those guys very well. Tough as hell.
"They earned a lot of respect from me. A bunch. You go through a playoff series against somebody, one of two things happen—you completely lose respect for them or gain a lot of respect. And I gained a f--k ton of respect. F--k ton. F--k ton."
So the second-seeded Rockets have gone home early, but they still have a bright future. Meanwhile, Green and the Warriors move on to the second round, where they'll begin their matchup with the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday in Minneapolis.
