Golden State Warriors starting forward Draymond Green has been slapped with a hefty fine of $25,000 by the National Basketball Association on Monday for kicking Oklahoma City big man Steven Adams in the groin in their Western Conference Finals Game Three.
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Green was initially hit with a flagrant 1 foul, but the league upgraded it to a flagrant 2.
Draymond Green got away from suspension but he should have gotten one after he kicked Steven Adams in the groin for the second time in their series.
While there was talk of a suspension for Green, the National Basketball Association decided against banning him for a game.
“Well, some are on accident and some are on objective”, Mark Davis said, “but I don’t think that was kind of on accident”.
“I don’t even think it’s something that we should be talking about”, Durant said. “If you look at contact hits throughout this playoffs … it leads you to believe that you’re getting different treatment for different players in these playoff games”.
If Draymond Green can’t strut and scream and play with ferocity, is he still Draymond Green?
The Oklahoma City Thunder forward was asked about Green’s non-suspension Tuesday ahead of the team’s Game 4 in OKC, and he laid on the sarcasm pretty thick in his response. “So I don’t think he’ll be suspended”.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr was not in a joking mood. Though he couldn’t find a spot with a Premier League team, he could be the consistent playmaker his new team needs.
Here’s the notable part of that otherwise nondescript play: His right leg went up in similar fashion that time as well, a reaction easily unnoticed because no defender was within reach of his size 15 foot, nobody got kicked and nobody ended up in a heap on the court in pain afterward.
“I mean, it happened before, mate”, he said according to ESPN while recalling the events in Game 2. “I don’t know about no flopping or nothing”.
Green, however, has yet to reach the standards he set in the regular season – 14 points on 49 per cent shooting, 9.5 rebounds and 7.4 assists – in this series.
“He needs to refocus a little bit, and he’ll admit it”, Kerr said of Green’s penchant for walking a fine line between advancing chemistry and creating chaos. “I guess”, Kerr said.
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“I’m confident that we’re going to come out and play a really good game in Game 4 and we’ll see what happens”. “Watching the replay, I think that’s clear”. I was just bad. He’s averaging 13 points per game on 37 percent shooting in the series, and just 5.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists.
