The Warriors pummeled the Knicks on Thursday night. No shock there. New York was without Carmelo Anthony and Derrick Rose, and the Warriors, well, are the Warriors.

Even less shockingly, Draymond Green apparently found his fuel in yet another opponent slight.

OK, who are we kidding? This "slight" we're talking about was actually a compliment. Not even a backhanded one, either. And out-and-out, blatant, impossible-to-misunderstand compliment. The context goes like this: Last season Draymond shut down Kristaps Porzingis both times the Warriors played the Knicks. At Oracle, he held Zinger to 3 points on 1-of-11 shooting. Porzingis, like every other halfway competitive athlete on the face of the earth, didn't want that to happen again. This is what he said to the New York Post leading up to Thursday's rematch:

"Both games he played really well defensively against me,'' Porzingis said. "So he's one of the top defenders in the league. It's going to be a challenge ... but I'm really looking forward to it.

"We didn't really talk about nothing. But after games like that, you don't even need anybody to talk to you. I want to go out there. Last season, right after the game was over I was thinking when was the next time we were going to get a chance to play against them. I'm ready for him."


Any normal human being reads that quote and sees: "He played really well defensively against me. He's one of the top defenders in the league. It's going to be a challenge." Those are compliments. Direct ones.

But Draymond? All he sees is that Porzingis said he would be "ready for him" and that he wanted another shot at redemption. What was the guy going to say? That he wasn't ready for him and that he hopes he never has to play against Draymond Green again? What guy in the NBA ... hell, what guy down at the local rec center worms out like that? How can anyone possibly take offense to this?

From SI:

"[His comment] kind of pissed me off and made me want to go a little harder this game and guard him," Green said, following Golden State's 103-90 home win on Thursday. "I like the passion, I like the dog that he has, I like that you want to see me again, but keep that to yourself. Don't let everybody know that you're going after me. I guess we're going to go after each other. That's fine."

Green told reporters that his Nike player representative Adrian Stelly had relayed Porzingis's comments to him by shortly before tip-off.

"I appreciate [Stelly] showing me that because I was a little in la-la land and that immediately pissed me off," Green said. "I think [Porzingis] is a great player. I think he will continue to get better and better, but that made it real personal."

Personal? Seriously? He makes it like he took a shot at his family.

Thing is, as Matt Moore has pointed out numerous times, it doesn't really matter if these "slights" are even real. It only matters that Green makes them real. Whatever Green needed as motivation, it worked, because he held Porzingis, who was coming off 26- and 34-point games, to eight points, which is his second-lowest output of the season.

So the lesson is clear. If you stand to be defended by Draymond Green at any point in your life, just keep his name out of your mouth. You could tell him he looks like Denzel Washington and he'd somehow twist it up into you calling him Steve Buscemi. And then you're in for it.

Just keep the dude's name out of your mouth.