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Golden State won its NBA title this year going small — Draymond Green at the five was not something the Cavaliers had an answer for. The two years prior, the Miami Heat won a couple of titles playing Chris Bosh at the five, spacing the floor with his jumpers.

Small ball works. Not for everyone — Green allows the Warriors to go small and not get hurt defensively — but it has proven to work with the right lineups.

Just don’t tell Miami center Hassan Whiteside that.

Small ball only works on centers that can't score #factsonly I wish you would put Someone that 6'6 on me #careerhigh #highschooldays — Hassan Whiteside (@youngwhiteside) August 26, 2015

The Warriors Draymond Green saw that tweet and fired back.

Can you score doe? 👀👀👀 Bigs becoming dinosaurs 😳😳😳😳😳 — Draymond Green (@Money23Green) August 26, 2015

Then they exchanged a couple more barbs.

2 dribbles in the post they going to cry for a double team FOH just watch go small ball #lightdoubledouble #getyourweightup #dontflop 😴😴😴 — Hassan Whiteside (@youngwhiteside) August 26, 2015

82 million reasons to flop and the d league ain't never been 1!!!! But keep wearing shirts chasing that 2k rating #thefinerthings 💀💀💀💀💀 — Draymond Green (@Money23Green) August 26, 2015

Whiteside may want to note that the Warriors beat the Memphis Grizzlies to get to the Finals, and last I checked Marc Gasol was pretty good at scoring inside. Same with Zach Randolph. Didn’t do them any good. To be fair, part of it is the Warriors are versatile — they can go small, play bigger, and they remain very effective on both ends of the floor. But their core identity is smaller and faster.

For two years prior, even Whiteside’s own team leaned small to win — Chris Bosh as the five and LeBron James at the four for long stretches. It’s what created matchup problems for opponents. It’s what worked.

There will always be a place for a skilled big man in the game, but the old basketball adage “tall and good beats small and good” doesn’t always ring true anymore. Not if you have the right smalls.