Matt Steinmetz

I’ll admit it, a few years back I thought Warriors forward Draymond Green was just OK. This was back when he was cramping David Lee’s style and we were getting into early talk of contract extension and playing time and starting or not starting, etc.

Yes, you saw he was going to be productive in stretches but was he going to be able to be productive over 36 minutes? He could do it in a limited role — 6-8 minutes at a time, but he was still undersized and still essentially a tweener.

So, yeah, I never thought he’d turn into the greatest defensive player in NBA history. OK, if not the greatest, the second-greatest. Or the greatest of this era. That’s not coming from me. That’s coming from someone who played with and against Bill Russell, considered the greatest defensive player in league history.

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This was a punch-the-clock, take-care-of-business game for the Golden State Warriors. And that’s exactly what they did, though they were a little bit late to work and didn’t really put in a full day. Facing a brutal upcoming two-week stretch, the Warriors  handled the Brooklyn Nets 112-95 on Saturday at Oracle, and now it’s time to begin traversing the United States.

The Nets (9-49), with the worst record in the NBA, led the Warriors (49-9), with the best record in the NBA, 46-45 with four minutes left in the second quarter. But they were on the short end of a 17-5 run to end the period and went into intermission down 62-51.

From there, the Warriors remained in control, though they were never able to put the Nets all the way away. With the victory, the Warriors clinched a playoff spot — the earliest date that a team has clinched a postseason berth. Last year, Golden State clinched on Feb. 27.

Nevertheless, something didn’t seem quite right in the Warriors’ locker room after.

Link to “Warriors WrapUp,” the radio postgame show.

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On the “NBA This Week,” we welcomed Philadelphia 76ers play-by-play man Marc Zumoff and the Washington Post’s Tim Bontemps to the show. It was a busy week in the NBA, so there was a lot to talk about.

Here’s link to interview with Marc Zumoff, television voice of the 76ers.

Here’s link to interview with Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post.

Among the topics discussed on the show:

–It wasn’t the most active of trading deadlines in the NBA, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a big deal made a few days before Thursday. The Sacramento Kings sent DeMarcus Cousins and Omri Casspi (since waived) to the New Orleans Pelicans for rookie Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans and Langston Galloway, plus a first- and second-round pick.

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