His controversial play during the playoffs, highlighted by Game 4’s on-court skirmish with Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James, earned him a suspension for Golden State’s possible title-clinching game on Monday.
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Through four games, Green leads the Warriors in minutes played (38.1), rebounds (9.3), assists (5.8) and is averaging 14.8 points per game.
The incident occurred when Green made unnecessary contact with a retaliatory swipe of his hand to the groin of James with 2:48 remaining in the fourth quarter of the Warriors’ 108-97 win in Game 4 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on Friday night. LeBron tried stepping over Green after Green fell to the ground, Green responded by kinda sorta punching LeBron in the crotch, the two did some jawing, and now, the league is reviewing the incident. That took Green over the Flagrant points limit, and it carried an automatic one-game suspension. James received a technical foul for physically taunting Green in Friday’s altercation, the National Basketball Association announced.
“There’s no way you can say this is an acceptable act”, Kiki VanDeWeghe, the NBA’s executive vice-president of basketball operations, told The Associated Press in a phone interview. Move on. I’m not going to sit there and argue with him. A “flagrant 2”, and he’ll be out for Games 5 and 6 (if necessary).
James and Green exchanged words in the fourth quarter after it appeared the Golden State forward hit Cleveland’s star below the belt. I said what I had to say and he said what he had to say.
For the price of a new vehicle, three lucky people will be watching Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals from courtside seats. “I knew we got into a grapple at the top of the key, but me just trying to get back into the play”.
“The only thing I’m focused on is what my teammates think, what our fans think and what my family thinks”.
The NBA’s investigation is under way and it is trying to determine if Draymond Green punched LeBron James, according to sources with knowledge of the investigation. “We can’t wait to get to Oracle on Monday”. Green did not address the media after practice, but his team spoke for him.
“There’s no rhyme or reason to it”, Bogut said. “He’s not happy, no”, Stephen Curry said.
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“For me as the leader of this team, we’ve just got to get one”, said James, whose streak of 25 consecutive playoff series with a road victory is now in jeopardy. That wasn’t a foul either, but the league retroactively gave him a flagrant and fined him $25,000. “I mean, they’re deliberately trying to punk you in that situation”. Green also kicked Cavs guard Kyrie Irving in the chest – inadvertently, Green said – in Game 1 of the finals, which was not penalized by the league.
