Draymond Green Explains What Sparked Trash Talk with Paul Pierce During Game

Basketball fans need wait no longer to learn why Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green verbally taunted Los Angeles Clippers forward Paul Pierce during Golden State's 123-113 win last Thursday.

Green spoke with the the Bay Area News Group's Marcus Thompson II on the most recent episode of his podcast Dray Day. He explained Pierce made the first move by questioning whether he could defend Blake Griffin:

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Green said Pierce called him a bum, said he would be nothing if he weren't on a team full of All-Stars. Green has heard constantly through his rise to All-Star level that he isn't good enough to carry a team, that he is a product of circumstance and not talent. So he fired back.

"It's nothing personal," Green said. "I don't hate [Pierce]. But if you gone talk junk, I don't hold anything back when I'm talking junk. If I'ma talk, I'ma talk. And I'ma take it where it needs to go."

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Early in the first quarter of the clash between the Clippers and Warriors, TNT microphones under the basket captured Green commenting on Pierce's final season, comparing it to the adulation Kobe Bryant received in his last year:

Not content to let Green have the last word, Pierce responded on Twitter:

Pierce and Green picked effective lines of attack, at least in terms of generating maximum reaction from the other.

The questions as to Green's talent and importance to the Warriors have largely died down, but it was a topic of debate during his first three or four years. And through no fault of his own, Green has never had to single-handedly carry the Warriors in a way that other star players have had to with their respective teams.

Pierce, meanwhile, found himself overshadowed by Bryant for essentially his entire NBA career despite everything he accomplished in his own right. Kobe scored more points, won more titles and earned more trips to the All-Star Game.

Pierce and Green's war of words is the newest entry in the rivalry between Los Angeles and Golden State, which goes back years.

The two teams haven't met in the playoffs since 2013-14, when the Clippers won in seven games in the first round. With any luck, they'll renew their hostilities in the postseason this summer.