Charles Barkley and Draymond Green were at it again, doing something that both of them are very good at doing – talking and throwing verbal jabs.
Before Game 2 tipped off between the Warriors and Mavericks on Friday night, Green was mic’d up during pre-game warmups.
“Dray, why are you shooting the ball in warm-ups and you never shoot it in the game,” Barkley asked.
“I shoot when I have to, Chuck,” Green responded. “I shoot when I have to when I need to win championships.”
Green notoriously isn’t much of a scorer, averaging only 8.7 points per game in his career, but his contributions on defense and the attitude that he provides to the team are what makes him invaluable to Golden State.
“Also Chuck, you’re not going to keep going at our fans,” Green said, referencing a vulgar exchange Barkley had with a fan. “They won more than you, big dog.”
Barkley responded by saying that he’s going to keep going at the fans, and that they’ll get all the smoke they want.
“They got more rings than you, Chuck,” Green replied.
Barkley, of course, never won a championship in his playing career, while Green and Golden State won three in a four-year stretch between 2015 and 2018.
“Hey I know they do, but they got to go back to their life. I’m going to go home and be Charles Barkley,” Barkley responded. “I’m going to feel pretty good about my life.”
“You have a pretty good life. I want your life too, Chuck,” Green said.
On the court, meanwhile, the Warriors rallied from 19 points down in the third quarter on Friday night and beat the Mavericks, 126-117, to complete the third-largest comeback in playoff history and take a 2-0 series lead.