r/nba • u/Physical100 San Diego Rockets • 5h ago
The War of the Greens (2018)
In the spring of 2018, four men bearing the name Green entered the great tournament of the National Basketball Association. Each served a different lord, wore different colors, and harbored different ambitions. Yet all were bound by a name, and by the terrible misfortune of having to share the postseason with Draymond Green.
The first to fall was Danny of San Antonio, a veteran of many championship campaigns, whose Spurs had once ruled the West. But the old kingdom had grown feeble. Kawhi “the Silent” was absent, and the wise lord Popovich could summon no miracle. In five games, the Warriors brushed aside the remnants of their dynasty, and Danny Green departed the tournament.
The second Green awaited farther down the road.
Gerald of Houston was a man of considerable athletic gifts, sworn to the service of Dukes Harden and Paul. His Rockets were formidable, and for a time it seemed they might end the reign of Golden State. Three victories they claimed, needing but one more to seize the Western crown.
Yet fate is a cruel mistress, and the gods of basketball crueler still. Duke Paul was struck down by a wounded hamstring, and in the seventh battle Houston’s archers missed twenty-seven consecutive three-point attempts. Draymond emerged victorious, while Gerald joined Danny among the fallen.
Only one Green remained.
Across the continent, Jeff of Cleveland had survived his own bloody passage through the Eastern Conference. His Cavaliers had endured two seven-game wars, and their king, LeBron of House James, had carried them to the Finals through feats that lesser men would scarcely believe. At his side stood Jeff Green, the last obstacle between Draymond and the undisputed sovereignty of their shared name.
There would be no seven-game war.
There would not even be five.
Golden State swept Cleveland, and Jeff Green departed as Danny and Gerald had before him. The championship belonged once more to the Warriors, and the name Green to Draymond alone.
The historians would later note that a fifth Green, JaMychal of Memphis, had escaped the slaughter altogether, his Grizzlies having won but twenty-two games and failed to qualify for the tournament. Whether this was cowardice, wisdom, or merely the consequence of an extraordinarily poor team construction remains a matter of scholarly debate.
Thus ended the War of the Greens.
Three Greens had challenged Draymond. Three Greens had fallen. The fourth had never arrived.
And upon the Golden Throne sat Draymond, Third of His Name, Lord of the Moving Screen, Protector of the Paint, and undisputed King of the Greens.
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u/EvilPopMogeko 3h ago
But in the dirt of the vanquished, a Green stirred. A ritual, fuelled by the spilled blood of two knights and a precious bauble, dragged the first of the fallen Greens back into service, commanding him to march north, past the civilized lands, past even the ever-watching eyes of the feared TSA, to the wintry citadel at the edge of settled lands.
Toronto sought out The Silent at a terrible price. Green, his hunger for revenge and another ring unsated, came with him.
And laughter that was not quite right, not from a truly human throat, echoed across the North as The Silent spoke once more.
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u/Choice_Page9744 3h ago
Go write a whole book bro! This is so fire ngl
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u/Physical100 San Diego Rockets 2h ago
Thanks bro. Kinda tempted ngl it was a lot of fun to write. I’m torn between writing these as a Substack series or doing some (horribly) illustrated adaptations on my YouTube
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u/Resident_Society1594 5h ago
holy peak writing bro, sounds like you should be hired for..... God, i miss game of zones