For the basketball world, most of yesterday was an agonizing wait to see if Draymond Green would be suspended for his Game 3 flagrant foul on Stevens Adams.
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The NBA rulebook is not specific enough as to deal with the precise way that Green’s leg flew forward, or the specific nature of its contact with Adam’s groin.
“I was just bad”, Green said before Monday’s practice. “I don’t know how anyone could possibly say I did that on objective, regardless of the way it looked”. Green isn’t just fouling players on goal: He’s actually trying to hurt them and puts them at risk with his decisions to take advantage of the league’s love for him team and the referees tending to ignore the uglier aspects in what makes the Warriors tick. The second that the news broke on this, my timeline on Twitter was filled with people saying ‘Typical NBA, they’re going to protect the stars. Green’s foul play also deserved the same punishment but his stardom helped him to escape suspension.
Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30) and Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green (23) sit on the bench towards the end of their game against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the fourth quarter of Game 4 of the NBA Western Conference finals at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Okla., on Tuesday, May 24, 2016. So, a crowd-puller like Draymond Green is bound to pass unscathed with cynical fouls for the sake of advertisers, and media partners, and consumers.
Oklahoma City’s length and quickness has bedeviled the Warriors’ offense throughout this series, and I don’t know if the Warriors can fix that.
But none of that matters if he just plays his game.
“I didn’t intentionally kick him down there”, Green said.
For the second straight game, the Thunder won with a small lineup.
“I followed through on a shot”, he said. Coach of the year Steve Kerr has been getting out coached by Billy Donovan thus far.
I would expect that Iguodala, at the very least, will play a larger and larger role (and Harrison Barnes possibly a smaller one) as the series moves along, and Kerr wouldn’t comment when I asked if he might start Iguodala again. If you punch someone in the face, you get suspended.
“I didn’t even think it was something we should be talking about”.
“During a game, players – at times – flail their legs in an attempt to draw a foul”, the official added.
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LeBron James scored 23 points then grabbed a seat, Kevin Love scored 25, and the Cleveland Cavaliers unleashed tenacious defense on Toronto to regain control of the Eastern Conference finals with a 116-78 rout of the Raptors in Game 5 on Wednesday night. OKC repeatedly kicked the west coasters where it hurts the most en route to a 2-1 series lead.
