The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Draymond Green Show - A Tribute To Adreian Payne

Episode Date: May 10, 2022

Draymond Green pays tribute to his former college teammate and roommate at Michigan State, Adreian Payne, who was tragically killed on Monday. Then he goes into Warriors-Grizzlies Game 4 as well as the rest of the playoff series'. #Herd Produced by: Jackson SafonSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The volume. The Draymond Green Show is presented by Fanduil Sportsbook. There's no better place to bet the action than on Fandual Sportsbook during the football season. It's easy to use. It's safe and secure. You get payouts in as fast as two hours. There's so many bet types. My favorite same game parlay bets.

There's live betting, player props, futures. If you're new, just download the Fandual Sportsbook app. To get started now, sign up. Please use the promo code Colin C-O-L-I-N. Fandul-S-Bo sportsbook makes it easy. What's up, everyone? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. We obviously have a lot to talk about tonight.

A big Celtics Bucks game from earlier today with the Celtics tying the series up two to two on the road, not going down on 3-1. Because unless you are the Golden State, Warriors, you hold on to that lead. And that's the past, by the way. We're a free one right now, and that ain't never happening again. But that is the past.

And, you know, you either embrace it or you let it haunt you. I embrace it. It is what it is. And so, as I was saying, the Celtics tied the series up. So we will be talking a little bit about that game, as I have not had an opportunity to see that entire game, because obviously we were preparing to play for tonight. But before that, I would love to take a moment, maybe a little longer than a moment, and talk about a brother of mine, my college teammate, my college roommate for two and a half years.

Adrian Payne, dear, dear friend, we suffered a true friend. We suffered a true. tragic loss early this morning. And I woke up today to my mom crying, calling me. My mom never calls me that early. So it's a little weird. I never really heard the phone when I'm asleep. So it's also a little weird that I actually heard the phone vibrating. And I saw it was my mom, so I picked up.

And I had about an hour left of sleep time before my alarm went off and shoot around. and I received the news that Adrian had been shot and killed. For anyone that the new Adrian, you know or you knew, Adrian was harmless. He was an incredible person. He cared about people more than he cared about himself. And when I say harmless, he lost his life going to help someone. Adrian arrived to help a friend in a domestic that was dealing with a domestic dispute.

And when Adrian arrived to help, he was tragically shot. And the big brother in me would love to call Adrian right now and curse him out and say, hey man like you know I know you want to help but maybe send someone to help maybe call the cops to help as that is their duty as they are trained for that and wishful thinking I would love to call and say that to him unfortunately I'll never have that opportunity Adrian was such a joy to be around. Always great energy.

Funny, hilarious. We all call him big player. Every time he see us or see someone, what's up, player, player, what's up player? Call everybody, these are my little players. And we all call them big player. And Adrian, to give you a little backstory on Adrian, you know, I talked to Coach DJ this morning, Coach Duane Stevens, and he was kind of telling me exactly what happened. And the first thing I said to him is, who's going to plan his funeral?

Adrian lost his mom at 13 years old. She died in his arms. He couldn't find her in heller. And at 13 years old, she passed away right in his arms. Imagine living with the weight on your heart, the burden, the thought of, if only I could have found that inhaler, I could have saved her life. Is that true? We don't know. We'll never know.

But what is true is I know Adrian lived with that burden for the rest of his life, which was true. tragically cut short, 18 years later at the age of 31. Adrian then went on to be raised by his grandmother, who passed away going into my senior year of college, which would be going into Adrian's sophomore year of college. And so I asked the question, who's going to plan his funeral? Because that is a legit worry. That is a legit concern. Adrian has a son that is three or four years old named Amari.

Adrian recently just had another kid. And from my understanding, well, actually, what I do know for certain is that Adrian was an incredible father. His son recently within the last eight or nine months had brain surgery. and AP was right by his side the moment he could be his son who he loved dearly who looks just like him

now has to grow up without a father preparing myself to play for a game today was one of the hardest things I've had to do it that I can think of in my recent memory ultimately I found it within to try to bring some energy to the game

to try to help my team win. Because unfortunately, in the world that we live in, life just continues to go on. And I had a moment in my seat at my locker this morning. And Coach Kerr said to me, you can go home. Nobody's expecting you to be here. And it's like, no, coach, I have a game prepared for. And that's just the reality.

like life just continues to go on. Unfortunately, life has to continue to go on without AP for his children, for his father, for his brothers, for his blood brothers, for his Spartan brothers, for his Spartan family. It has to continue to go on without him. And my hope and my prayer is that his son ultimately knows how much he loved him, how much he cared for him.

how he would have given anything for him, his children, absolutely loved children. There was a national story some years back when Adrian was still at Michigan State about a little girl named Lacey that had a terminal disease. I remember the first day, I was still on the team,

the first day we went to the Children's Hospital and AP met Lacey. We were kind of going from room to room and AP stayed in the one room were hurt the whole time. And he left that hospital that day with a new friend, with a new sister,

with someone that he would spend countless numbers of hours with for the rest of her short life. He had her at games. He went to birthday parties. He did whatever. he could to show her that she had a friend in him. That's who Adrian Payne was.

So when I say I would love to call and curse him out, the reality is, is it makes total sense that he lost his life going to help someone else. Because that's exactly how AP would happen. You told AP, you're going to die. Here are the ways in which you would die. And if that was one of the options, that would be the one he would do. Because that's who Adrian Payne was.

I can go on and on and on about stories I have with him about memories. I can sit here and talk for hours about him. Spent a ton of time together. As I announced in my press conference tonight, Hazel and myself will donate 100,000, $1,000 and it's just so fresh. Like, I don't know exactly what this is going to look like. I don't know exactly what it's going to be.

But as I said in my press conference earlier, after the game, I am calling on my Spartan family to step up in AP's honor, Coach Zizzo, Matt Ishbia, Magic Johnson. Gary Harris, Penzel Valentine, Xavier Tillman, Jaron Jackson, Third,

Bryn Forbes, and all of those that I left off. And this is not just Spartan basketball family. Everyone who AP touched in the Spartan family, maybe it'll consist

of a couple different things. Maybe we'll start a go-fund me or something to for Adrian's children. But what I want to do is where my $100,000 will go, mine's and Hazel, is I hope to start something

for those that don't know how to reach this side, there will be a go-fund me for you if you want to contribute for Adrian's kids. But what I want to do is those that I called on is I want to put something together

and we I have the honor of having when you walk in to Michigan States gym, practice gym auxiliary gym, I have the honor of having a huge weight room right on the side of the court

and Draymont Green Strength and conditioning facility. It came with my donation to the school. And what I wanted do is with the guys that I've caught up on, I want to put something together in honor of Adrian. So when his son, who we will always have back at Michigan State, because this is a family, when his son walk in that gym or walk on that campus, I'm not sure what it'll be yet, that he sees something named after Adrian Payne with a big, huge picture of Adrian Payne in Michigan

State green and white. And he can look up and say, that's my dad. grow older and as all of his children grow older, I keep saying he because that's the one I've had the opportunity to meet. As they grow older, they can walk in there and they can be proud and know that their dad left a legacy and he would never be forgotten. It brings me great joy when I take my family back and they see my picture on the wall and they see the accolades and they see the Draymind green strength and condition. So it brings me great joy.

And I hope, my hope and prayer is that forever, when we get this done, that his children will walk in and that will bring them great joy. So as I said, I can go on and on. But that is my hope, that is my prayer, that is my call to action, if you will, my fellow Spartan family. Life is short. Enjoy those that you love.

Embrace them. Get mad, get over it. Life is too short. I urge those who are in domestic violence situations to get help because a lot of times they end with someone that's in a dispute, life being taken. This time it ended with,

with someone that's trying to help life being taken. And unfortunately, those situations, they end like that all too often. And so I urge anyone who's in a domestic relationship who's dealt with it to get help, to call on help. If you know your friend is in a domestic relationship and they don't have it within themselves to get help because they think it's going to get better,

I urge you to reach out to someone and get them help. If your friend is in a domestic relationship, I urge you to call the cops to send them and not take it upon ourselves. Because the reality is we can take it upon ourselves. And Adrian could have ended up protecting himself if he was armed. And then he's in a situation that he shouldn't have been in and losing his life a different way. And so I urge those that have any knowledge of any knowledge of any. domestic situation to encourage your friend, family, whoever it may be, to get help. And if you see that they're not willing to get help, you try to help them get help.

Because we see far too many lives taken away involving a domestic dispute. So that is my call to everyone who hears this. I ask for those that do hear this to share this with those that don't because we see it far too often. rest in peace, Adrian, I love you, brother. You were incredible. Beat the odds. Beat the odds, my man. You made it out of Dayton, Ohio,

when they said you wouldn't make it past elementary school because of your learning disability. Not only did you make it past elementary. Not only did you make it past middle school, not only did you make it past high school, not only did you make it to college, you graduated from college. when they said you couldn't.

When they said you never play basketball out of high level because you couldn't run and shoot the ball at the same time. You couldn't run and chew gum at the same time when you first started. You beat the ahats

and you made it to the NBA. It's what we all dream about when we play this game. You actually did it. To my brother, I love you. Until we meet again, you got my word. I will always look

after your loved ones, your children, and helping any way I can. I love you, my brother. Now, moving forward to the Warriors Grizzly game, as I had to do with my day, I would now move forward in the podcast. For those of you who always know my energy on the podcast, I truly apologize that I just don't have that today.

But I will give you what I have. And Warriors Grizzlies, no job. That is a team that was 20 and 5 in the regular season without Jha. They showed that tonight. We got away with one that we probably shouldn't have won. But we are battle tested. We do have championship pedigree. And we understand that, hey, we started the game 0 for 16, 015 from 3.

And couldn't buy a basket. I mean, the score was 41 to 38 at home. halftime, a laugh the 2004 Detroit Pistons beating the Los Angeles Lakers in finals. Very, very, very low-scoring game, which none of us are used to in today's NBA. But no jaw, insert Stephen Adams into the lineup.

I was a little shocked that they decided to go to Stephen Adams. in large part due to he hadn't played, I think he played the first game and maybe the first few minutes of the second game in their first round series, which went six games. And hadn't really played since until the garbage time minutes

in our last game, which was a blowout. And so I was really shocked that they inserted him into the star lineup. In true Stephen Adams fashion, a professional as he is and has always been, he comes out and he has a very good game. Rebounded the ball really well, scored the ball when he had opportunities, bought a physical presence for them that we hadn't really seen because Stephen just brings a different type of dominance to a basketball game.

And so I thought that was an insert in Stephen Adams. it turned out to be a positive for them. I thought there were ways that we could have taken advantage of Stephen Adams being in the lineup with just our style of playing in the lineups that we were playing, but we just didn't have it going offensively. We didn't have a rhythm. A lot of turnovers in the first half again,

which has kind of been a story in this series. You know, last game, we scored 142 points. I think we had 16 or 17 turnover. But 14 of those came in the first half. we were leading by seven after game three at halftime of game three. I'm sorry. And we came out that third quarter and we have one of those warriors, third quarters that a lot of people that watch Warriors basketball over the last seven years or so

has gotten accustomed to. And we were able to blow the game open. and hold on to that lead, not only hold on to it, but push it up. And, you know, one thing that I thought was beautiful in that game three was we were up 20 points. John Morant, I know what the conversation was when they huddled up. We've been here before. We know what it takes. Let's go out here and let's get back in this game and win the game.

And Job Morant came out playing like that. that. They were up 20 points. Joss started to go on his rampage and scoring every play. And I think he looked up like, wow, I'm starting to go crazy. He had a couple of those jaw layups that only Jai makes. And he looked up and they were down 25. And that was big for us because that was to show them this isn't the Minnesota Timberwolves. You're not, you're no longer playing that team. This is the Golden State Warriors. This is championship level basketball.

This is how we do it. And it was, it was beautiful to see. We went on to score 142 points and win the game. Far cry from the 101 points that we scored tonight. But it's funny because I told Jordan Pool, Jordan Poole asked me right after that game. He said, no, they're going to quit now.

I said, no, no. is zero to zero in game four start on Monday. He said, okay, all right, I got you. And sure enough, that's exactly what happened. I want to send my well wishes to John Morant. You never want to see a guy get hurt. I totally disagree with the whole notion of Jordan hurt his knee, as I saw on several different plays even on the film,

him grabbing at his knee long before that play. I also saw on that play, and Jordan bump knees. But in saying that, like I said, in my press conference that day, I'm not going to go tiff or tat on what happened or whatnot. I wish him well. I wish him a speedy recovery. You never want to see anyone get hurt,

especially a young superstar talent like that. And so most importantly, just want to wish John's speedy recovery. Let's talk a little bit about game four. and I, again, I apologize for my lack of energy. It's been a very emotionally taxing day for me. Jaron Jackson was having an absolutely incredible game. We couldn't get a stop.

Otto couldn't get a stop. Clay couldn't get a stop. I couldn't get a stop. None of us could get a stop on Jaron Jackson in the second half. Down the stretch, they went to him. He drove left, crossed the middle of the paint. He misses. Steph Curry gets to rebound.

Knock two free throws down. we go up 98 to 95. We get another stop. They go back to Jaron for the three. I get a block. And for the lip readers out there, I simply said, don't do that for game. He's having a great game,

but don't go at me for game. I don't like that. It's disrespectful. You know, and the reality is, somebody go at you for game. Sometimes, and they go the opposite way. I take it all the way back to Andre Miller game

and me in the playoffs, my rookie year. But I don't like that. Don't go at me for game. And they did. And I understand. Jaron had it gone. No job. Dylan Brooks was having a pretty rough night.

They go to their guy. I totally get it. Incredible, incredible performance by Jarn. He's been incredible all series, actually. but I had to do what I'm paid to do and that's come up with big time stops and big time moments and shout out to our guard, Steph, Clay, Wigs, Jordan, Damien Lee,

everybody who stepped on the floor has been rebound in the basketball and that's been critical, especially with the lineups that we play. Otto doing an incredible job rebounding. Looney, comes in, do an incredible job rebound. And that is a huge key to us being ahead 3-1 in this series because, as I said at the beginning of the series, the game starts for them on a miss shot by them or us.

Offensive rebounds, they led the league in offensive rebounding. They play big, they crash the glass. And so rebounding has been huge for us in this. series and it's a large part due and it's in large part of the reason we're up three to one i'm not exactly certain but i think we've out rebounded them in all four games that's correct and that is huge because that's supposed to be our weakness that's supposed to be how they're supposed to take advantage of our small lineups and for us to rebound that way you have to give a lot of credit uh to all the guys on the floor taking on that challenge boxing out a huge

part of that is keeping your man in front of you. So you are in rebound in position. And so that's been a huge key in this series. And it's been absolutely great. Steph Curry, with all the slander, all of this, all of that. Steph Curry showed you once again for those that love to talk and blah, blah, blah, blah, four headlines. Why he's Steph Curry, the way he took over that fourth quarter. in particular the last six minutes of that fourth quarter.

Showed you why he's Steph Curry, showed you why he's the own unanimous MVP in NBA history. He showed you why he's a three-time champion. He showed you why the baby-faced assassin became Steph Curry, as you know him today. Huge, huge, huge effort by Steph on the offensive end, especially on a pretty horrendous offensive night for us. But you put the ball in your guy hands that's going to make the plays for you

and you trust him to make the plays. Mike Brown did that. He didn't go away from that. And eventually Steph did what Steph does. He took over the game down the stretch. He got us every big bucket that we needed. And we were able to pull out that game. Also, huge, huge thing that Steph has been doing this series is taking Desmond Bain out.

Desmond Bain is a huge key to their offense. And Steph has done an incredible job of taking him out of the series now. We have one more win to get us not over. But Steph's focus on a defensive end for a non-defender, I mean, he's been so locked in. Like even when he leaves the floor, he goes. points to, he calls whoever on our team he then wants to car obey. Clay, you go there. And that's his trust in Clay. You know, we've been together now, those two for 11 years,

myself, 10. That's his trust in Clay. Like, no, I'm not trusting anyone else. I'm going to trust Clay, you go, you go guard. And that's been huge, and it's been beautiful to see for me on how he's taken on that challenge and made it tough for Bay. to get loose, which is another huge reason we're sitting here, up three to one, headed back to Memphis tomorrow, to try to close out this series on Wednesday. That's been absolutely incredibly important. And I hope that he will get the credit for that. I hope that people can look past, you know, of course, what everyone's going to talk about, oh, Steph got it going off. But no one's going to talk about his defensive effort and taking Desmond Bain out of the series.

And that's been huge. So shout out to Steph. We need it for one more night, my brother. We need it for one more night. Close this thing out. Get back to the conference finals. It's been a long, long year. An eventful one.

Congratulations to Mike Brown on getting the head coach of the Sacramento Kings. I think the Sacramento Kings is on a 17-year program. playoff drop, 16, 17 year playoff drop, I have no doubt in my mind that Mike is going to take his championship pedigree, his incredible especially defensive

mind, incredible basketball mind with an incredible staff to Sacramento with him, and I think it won't be long before that streak is broken. And I'm looking forward to

Mike. Mike is what now 13 and 0 in the playoffs as the dubs head coach record stays unblemished i also send love well wishes and the speedy recovery to coach cur to rick sellabrini to cari to carl bergstrom and recovering from covid uh just another one of the things that we're hit with so on top of me dealing with what I've been dealing with, an emotion that I've been dealing with today in the Lost of Adrian. We then walk into the arena to only find out that our head coach just tested positive for COVID right before the game.

And so it's been a very ventful, emotional day nonetheless, but the dubs sported out. The dubs are up three to one headed back to Memphis and you don't squander opportunities. You take advantage of opportunities. So we are going to give all that we have to close this thing on the five. And I believe in my heart,

if we go in locked in, play Warriors basketball from the beginning, that we'll do that. That's the plan. On to the Celtics Bucks series, which is tied to the two. The Celtics took that win in Milwaukee today, 116 to 108.

Y'all see Jackson. y'all probably don't see jackson but jackson's doing his little dance as you know for our listeners who we love we appreciate you know jackson's a big time celtics fan and so he's excited behind 30 points from both al horford and jason tato j t i love you my brother that's my little brother as y'all know we've built a relationship but i don't want to talk about you j t you're supposed to get 30 I don't know if it's a Boston thing. If, like, Al just bleeds green. Al may bleed green, because what y'all don't know is Al is from Grand Ledge, which is right next to East Lansing. Al probably should have been a Michigan State Spartan as opposed to a Florida gator. So I'm going to go out on the limb and say, Al does bleed green.

And that is why he thrived in the Celtics green. Al Horford is playing incredible basketball. He's knocking down a shot. He's doing a great job on Janus. He is their veteran leader. As you can see how everyone responds to anything that he says, his presence. I mean, Al has been absolutely incredible. I'm not sure what Al's contract situation is,

but Al looking like he got another four or five years of bump left in those legs. And it's been incredible to watch. what Al has done for that series is what you can see in watching this game and J.T. ended up with 30 tonight. But what you can see is Milwaukee is saying Jalen Brown won't beat us and Jason Tatum won't beat us.

And Al Horford said, okay, well, I will. And it's been absolutely beautiful to watch for Al Horford to be sent to Oklahoma City, a lot like Chris Paul. A lot like Chris Paul to essentially lay on his deathbed And that's no disrespect to Oklahoma City Thunder

as an organization But where they are and they're rebuild You take on a contract that's considered a bad contract That guy is pretty much being sent there to be left for dead Chris Paul then goes to Oklahoma City Not only does he show that he has a lot left in the tank and eventually his move to Phoenix. But he carried that team

that was looking to tank to the playoffs. And Al Horford, who didn't play a ton in OKC, worked with the team, said he's, you know, professional as Al Horford is, stayed in shape. And it's, as I've said before, when the Boston Celtics made that trade, I actually talked to JT. I'm like, yeah, what are y'all doing?

Like, I feel like y'all need a point guard. Like, why are y'all bringing Al Hufford back? Clearly, Brad knew something we didn't know. And Al is playing absolutely incredible basketball. He has been the key to this series. And really throughout the playoffs for them, I mean, at the basketball that he's playing. I think we're starting to see some of the Milwaukee Bucks

missing Chris Middleton. Wesley Matthews has been incredible. He's playing great defense. He's knocking shots down. But you can't replace Chris Middleton. And what he brings to that offense, his big shot making in the fourth quarter, the Boston Celtics defense also having to account for him.

You can't replace that. And I think we're starting to see some of that impact. And although Drew has been more aggressive and Yonis is doing what Yonis does, you're just starting to see Chris Middleton in the gap that he leaves by not being there. And now Boston is headed back home.

Two to two, they took home court advantage back. I'm excited to see this game five. This is a pivotal game. Game five, you know, there's some stat that says whoever wins game five in the two-two series goes on to win the series. 80 something percent of the time.

So this is a huge game. Boston can't let this one get away and then have to win two in a rowing and starting that with going back to Milwaukee. So I'm excited to see what's going to happen with this gang. This game five for them. Obviously excited for what's going to happen with our game five. But I think that's going to be an incredibly good game.

And we'll see. May the best team win. I am taking the Celtics. Game five, hold it down in the garden, taking the seeds. I was saying we might have a problem.

You picked otherwise. Jackson's going to cut the podcast off if I were to pick for it. So no disrespect to Milwaukee fans, but I like doing the podcast. I enjoy it, so I hope you understand. And the Mavericks and 76ers both tie up their series two to two.

We'll hit those real quick and we'll get out of here. I'm going to go lay my head on Hazel's shoulder, maybe drop a few tears, a few more, but just try to move forward. But before we get out of here, the Dallas Mavericks, Dory and Finney Smith had a huge game.

There was one play in particular that I want to highlight. Luca caught the ball on the left wing, had an open shot. The guy rotated off Finney Smith. Luca kicked it to the corner to Finney Smith. One point game at the time, if I'm not mistaken. Finney Smith drained the, three.

Dorian Finney Smith, I've spoke about his extension on this podcast. The player that he has become is absolutely amazing. It's no shocker to me that he had the three-point shooting game tonight because he has worked and worked and worked and he's become a shooter. And it's absolutely incredible to see. Maxie Cleaver is shooting 24 and 493. 49 point something percent. Dorian Finney Smith is shooting 44% from three

and Reggie Bullock is shooting 41% from three. And there's your reason of why that series is tied up to two. The other guys are doing what they're supposed to do. Now, something to watch for. Can those guys hit those same shots in Phoenix? Role players always play better at home. That is what you, if you haven't noticed, pay attention. That's what happens historically in the NBA.

But those shots are very, very, very vital. And what the Mavericks cannot afford is to have another 39-point look at night. 10, 7, 4, 11. They need other guys to have a great game. So that's something to watch for. And then the 76ers, this series looked totally different. since the big fella came back, what you'd expect. But they have, I mean, they pretty much dominated the last two games.

Like at no point in those last two games that I think like, oh, Miami's about to win this game. Joel has changed everything from Miami's defense and trying to stop him and Miami's offense in trying to score with him there. I mean, he's been incredible on both sides of the floor. James Harden, we saw some of the James Hardin that we've been grown accustomed to seeing over the years in that fourth quarter. I think you have four threes and he has some daggers.

And it looked like, oh, James Harder, that's something to watch as this series move forward because with the way Miami's Guard and Joel, they're pretty much saying James is going to have to beat us. And so that's something to watch, will we continue to see the same James Harden that we've seen for years? Or will Miami be able to get James Hardin back at bay in the 17-point average that he had prior to last night's game in the series?

That is something to watch. I also think Jimmy Butler has had incredible games, especially the last two games. Van Out of Bayou had a really good game last game. And Tyler Hero played better at Game 4. And with all of those guys playing better and to still walk off losing by eight or whatever they lost by, that's a worry. That's a big worry. So looking forward to game five.

Game five in Miami, I am going to take, do do do do do do do do do. I'm taking Miami. Game five in Miami, I got the Miami Heat. winning that game. We'll see how it goes. Pivotal game five. That's it. That's a wrap from the Dremont Green Show. Again, I apologize for my lack of energy. Um, been a brutal day. Rest in peace, Adrian Payne. Again, I love you, my brother. Until next time, that's a wrap. Peace.