SACRAMENTO -- Malik Monk's second made free throw cut the Sacramento Kings' deficit to one point with a little more the four minutes remaining Wednesday night at Golden 1 Center. Once the Warriors received the ball, Draymond Green tapped into a player no one could ever compare him to.
Some have compared him to Dennis Rodman. Others have done the same with Green and Charles Barkley. His unique skill set between his size, defensive acumen and downright determination bucks comparisons.
So, here's a new one.
"Draymond was amazing," Steve Kerr said. "Especially down the stretch. They were calling him 'Draymond Nowitzki' after the fadeaway."
Kevon Looney later joked Steph Curry was the first to call Green that while the Warriors celebrated in the locker room.
Green's one-legged fadeaway jumper with just under four minutes left gave the Warriors a three-point lead. They never looked back, winning 123-116, extending the Warriors' NBA record of 28 straight playoff series with at least one road win. Wednesday night's Game 5 victory gave Golden State three straight wins and a three-games-to-two first-round lead as the series shifts back to San Francisco for Game 6 on Friday night.
Again coming off the bench for the second straight game following his suspension, Green played 32 minutes. There's a strong argument he was the most impactful player on the floor. Draymond dropped a season-high 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting, adding seven assists, four rebounds, four steals and one block.
He was a plus-12 in plus/minus, affecting every inch of the court behind non-stop boos from Kings fans. Green became only the third player in NBA history with at least 21 points, seven assists, four rebounds and four steals off the bench in a playoff game since 1974.
Golden State Warriors
His best Dirk Nowitzki impression was the product of his final two points, marking Green's most points in a playoff game since the 2017 Western Conference semifinals. But this also was his second straight extremely aggressive game on offense.
In Sunday's Game 4 win, Green took 14 shots -- the second-most he has taken all season. He only made three. By his count, he missed six layups and vowed for that to be a quick change in Game 5. Draymond delivered on his word.
"Tonight coming into the game, I just knew where my spots would be and that's one of the luxuries coming off the bench," Green said. "You can kind of feel the game out, see what's going on."
The Warriors were down by two points, 16-14, when Green first entered the game at the 6:34 mark of the first quarter. Twenty-two seconds later, he nailed a five-foot floater. He made two more shots in the first quarter, both being layups.
Over the last few days, Green had been working in the gym on the exact plays that worked in his favor and saw him rack up a rare amount of points. The work turned into a crucial win.
And it wasn't limited to one side, too.
The fourth quarter has been De'Aaron Fox's time to shine all season long. The Kings star was awarded the NBA's first Clutch Player of the Year award prior to tipoff. Shaking off his fractured left index finger, Fox scored 24 points with nine assists and seven rebounds.
But in the fourth quarter of Game 5, playing all 12 minutes, Fox was held scoreless as he went 0 of 6 from the field. Green played eight minutes of the fourth quarter and was his usual pest of himself defensively with three steals, two rebounds and one block.
The 33-year-old was Enemy No. 1 walking into Golden 1 Center. He walked out a winner to the tune of a silenced Sacramento crowd.
"I didn't give any of my energy to them," Green said of Kings fans. "Anything other than winning this basketball, I wanted to focus all my energy towards that. So a couple times I noticed them, but for the majority of the game I didn't even hear them.
"I was just dialed in at the task at hand."
RELATED: How Warriors righted their wrong by bringing GP2 back to Bay
The 21 points. The 32 minutes of imposing his will and grinding down his opponent. Everything Green provided is exactly why the Warriors have stuck with him through ups and downs for more than a decade.
The highs have been the height of the basketball world. His four rings he can flash at any moment are proof. The lows, as seen more than once this season, can make everyone from top to bottom shake their head and ask if this is the last straw.
Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. There's one Draymond Green, and he's damn proud of it. That can be a fault or a superpower. The Warriors are now one win away from continuing their title defense, thanks to the latter.
"He's emotional and at times crosses a line as he would admit, readily," Kerr said. "But at his core, all of that comes from a place of competitive desire. He just wants to win. He just wants to compete and win."
Both boxes were checked, behind a reminder of what makes Green so incomparable.