Timberwolves fans chant ‘Draymond sucks’ in 108-105 Game 1 loss to Mavericks

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Minnesota Timberwolves lost to the Dallas Mavericks 108-105 in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals Wednesday night at Target Center, and fans made their distaste for Draymond Green known before tip-off.

Green is part of the TNT broadcast on-hand for the game, including Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith. As the crew was doing their pregame show, Timberwolves’ fans were letting Green have it with chants of "Draymond sucks!"

It drew a reaction from Shaq, who put his left hand up in a motion telling fans to calm down. Green did not react to the chants.

Green drew ire from the fan base after comments that the Timberwolves had "lost belief" after their Game 5 loss to the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals, and said the series was over. The Wolves went onto win Games 6 and 7 to advance to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since Kevin Garnett got them there in 2004.

He also got suspended earlier this season after putting Rudy Gobert in a headlock during the first quarter of a regular season game. He’s a polarizing player who is not shy in offering his opinions, like them or not. One fan after the game, still in the arena as most fans cleared out, screamed "Draymond Green sucks!" at the top of her lungs at least 10 times with the help of some liquid courage, and noted that TNT's "Inside the NBA" may soon be canceled with NBA games heading to ESPN in a mega media rights deal.

As for the game, Mavericks' stars Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic were simply better than Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns. Irving and Doncic combined for 63 points on 24-of-49 shooting. Edwards and Towns combined for 35 points on 12-of-36 shooting, including 7-of-21 from three-point range. Jaden McDaniels led the Timberwolves with 24 points. Naz Reid added 15 points off the bench, and Kyle Anderson had 11.

"Terrible offense down the stretch. Bad shots, turnovers, no composure. We haven’t closed halves very well over the last handful of games, it cost us one game in the Denver series. Certainly had an impact on this game tonight too. We’ve got to be better in clutch moments," Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said after the loss.

Was there a hang over after such a thrilling and emotional win over the defending NBA champions?

"I think we just came out flat today. Then we found our energy, then we went back to being flat. Everything was on us today. I don’t think we played our best basketball tonight, 1-15," Edwards said. "I think Jaden was the only one that came ready to play tonight, and I think everybody else let him down."

Dallas also dominated the paint, out-scoring the Timberwolves 62-38 on the night.

Game 2 is set for Friday night back at Target Center, and the Timberwolves need a win to avoid heading to Dallas down 0-2 in the best-of-seven series.