Draymond stunned Udoka not getting more credit for Celtics' success

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NBA playoff series are all about the adjustments each team makes from game to game, and no one knows that better than Warriors star Draymond Green.

When the Warriors aren't playing, Green makes sure to watch other playoff games or at least catch up on the highlights and analysis.

Hours after the Warriors eliminated the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals at Chase Center on Saturday night, Green was awake in the middle of the night watching "SportsCenter" on ESPN, and he had an observation about the breakdown of the Boston Celtics' thrilling Game 6 win over the Milwaukee Bucks to force a winner-take-all Game 7 on Sunday at TD Garden.

After the Celtics lost Game 5 at home to go down three-games-to-two to the defending NBA champions, they were staring at a stunning playoff exit with the Bucks hosting Game 6.

But first-year Celtics coach Ime Udoka and the Celtics made the necessary changes and managed to pull away from the Bucks in Game 6, winning 108-95 at Fiserv Forum.

Now the series shifts back to Boston for Game 7, which Green surely will be watching since the Warriors are waiting for their Western Conference finals opponent.

Udoka was hired last summer after longtime Celtics coach Brad Stevens decided to take a front office role. Boston got off to a slow start and there were questions about whether it was time to break up the tandem of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

But once the calendar flipped from 2021 to 2022, the Celtics turned things around thanks to Udoka and finished the season on a 34-12 run to secure the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. Now they are one win away from advancing to the Eastern Conference finals and a date with the top-seeded Miami Heat.

Despite what Udoka was able to do with the Celtics since Jan. 1, he finished fourth in NBA Coach of the Year voting behind Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams, who won, Memphis Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.

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Udoka probably didn't get the respect he deserved in the Coach of the Year voting and Green believes the Celtics' coach didn't get enough praise for leading Boston to the win on Friday.

Depending on how things play out on Sunday and then over the next two weeks, Green and Udoka could be facing off against each other in the NBA Finals in June.

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