Draymond Green said Monday he wasn’t bracing for the worst, but didn’t like the wait before the National Basketball Association announces whether or not it will discipline him for kicking Steven Adams in the groin.
Advertisement
Asked about the fairness of the league’s review of his kick of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Steven Adams in the groin, Green said Tuesday before the game, “That is a great question”.
The timing of the incident is ominous for the Warriors, coming on the same day the league suspended Cleveland guard Dahntay Jones for one game after he struck a Toronto player in their Eastern Conference finals showdown on Saturday. “But you caught him in the groin area, so I have to give you a flagrant, ‘” Green said.
“Honestly, I didn’t know I hit him”.
The foul was upgraded from a Flagrant Foul 1 to a Flagrant Foul 2, and Green was fined $25,000. There’s multiple plays where – I did it later in the game, where I got fouled and my right leg went up.
Then again, Kevin Durant – who’s been looking like General Grievous out there on defense – would’ve shut down whoever played in Green’s place, so the point’s probably moot.
Warriors Coach Steve Kerr said the issue wasn’t the flailing leg but the point of impact, a region where Adams had also been struck in Game 2 when Green kneed him in the groin while driving toward the basket. I’m like, ‘What happened?’ I’m standing at the 3-point line, I look at Andrew Bogut, and he looked at the replay, and he was like [cringes].
According to SB Nation, Steve Kerr believed the Draymond Green should not be suspended as he was just trying to establish position against Steve Adams. I just kind of erred on the side of not saying anything and was hopeful I may catch him after the game. I think it matters to him a lot to have an impact on the game.
Westbrook wasn’t thrilled with Green’s comments, calling Green’s foul on the three-pointer a “dumb play on his part”. We all knew that was going to happen.
“Nobody was talking about it today, nobody really didn’t care”, Durant said.
“During a game, players – at times – flail their legs in an attempt to draw a foul”, the official added.
Advertisement
“That’s what was frustrating to me”, he said. Because that, according to some cynics, would hurt TV ratings which is the one area where the National Basketball Association really doesn’t want to be kicked. That dominance peaked in the first seven games of the postseason, with Green’s +/- surging to +19.9 per game.
