Draymond Green explains Warriors game plan against Russell Westbrook / News - Basketnews.com

Draymond Green said that sagging off a player contradicts everything you're being taught in basketball and makes the player think twice before attempting a shot. He said it was the plan against Russell Westbrook all along.

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Russell Westbrook had an awful shooting performance Thursday night against the Golden State Warriors. What caught people's attention was how the Warriors were defending the Los Angeles Clippers newcomer.

Player of the Game EFF 27 Jordan Poole Points 34 Accuracy 9-20 Rebounds 4 Assists 3

Draymond Green was oftentimes tasked to guard Westbrook but he didn't even approach him when the guard received the ball. On numerous occasions, Green would just continue standing in the paint, denying Westbrook an opportunity to drive and daring him to shoot from distance.

Westbrook finished the game making just 3 shots in 12 attempts, missing all five triples to go alongside 6 assists and 4 turnovers.

Talking about it after the game, Green revealed that it was the plan before the game and he was just there executing it.

"We went through it this morning at the shootaround trying to get everybody to grasp the concept. It's very easy when a guy is sagging off like that, when a guy catch[es the ball], you just rotate to him. We didn't want to do that," he explained. "The game plan worked for us tonight. We got Russ to miss some shots."

"Everyone always judges Russ' jump shot. What that does to you mentally is tough. It was more so mental than his shot, he's been shooting the ball well, I think he's been shooting the three at like 33 or 34 percent. Mentally, it can get tough," Green said. "I thought we did a good job with sticking with the gameplan and we were able to muddy the game up for them on the defensive side and it worked for us."

Asked to further explain what it does to the player when you're being guarded in that way, Draymond explained it from the fundamental side of basketball.

"It makes you think for sure because you're open every play. You're taught in basketball [that when] you're open, you take the shot but if you're open every play, you kind of start questioning yourself," the forward said. "I thought we did a good job executing."

Full Draymond Green's answer:

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