Draymond Green was fined $25,000 but not suspended by the National Basketball Association on Monday for kicking Oklahoma City center Steven Adams in the groin.
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Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green has been fined US$25,000, but is to escape a suspension for his kick on Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams, the National Basketball Association said on Monday.
“I knew the league was going to let him play or fine him or upgrade to a Flagrant 2”, he said.
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.
In any case, the Thunder have proven that they can upend the Warriors regardless of circumstance; they claimed Game One of the conference series in the crunch and on the road, and then used Game Three at home to administer one of the most thorough whippings in playoff history. Either he’ll be a tentative ghost, like he was in the final two-and-a-half quarters of Game 3 after the violation against Adams’ person, or he’ll just get in immediate foul trouble with some ticky-tack calls.
“I can see how somebody can think it was intentional, but yet nobody can go in my head and say, ‘Draymond was thinking about kicking him and he kicked him, ‘ ” Green said. “But, you caught him in the groin area, so I have to give you a flagrant, ‘” Green said. “He’s just going to play, he’s going to be himself, and we’ll see what happens”.
“Russell [Westbrook] said I did it on goal, but he’s a part of the superstar group that started all this acting in the NBA”, Green told the media on Monday. No. 23 played in 81 of the 82 Warriors’ games this season, so he averaged a technical foul about every six games.
Because they have the bigger team, the Thunder have opted to do what most teams will not when playing the Warriors. “He said: ‘Draymond, I’m not saying intentional”.
Westbrook wasn’t thrilled with Green’s comments, calling Green’s foul on the 3-pointer a “dumb play on his part”. It just is what it is for me.
Furthermore, the Warriors may well wind up regretting that VanDeWeghe didn’t suspend Green when all this is said and done. You’ve got to make it on the merits of individual play, and everything, all the facts that are going on around it.
The Oklahoma City lead reached 41 at one point, and the series suddenly has a different flavour.
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“I would tell [Adams], ‘My bad”. “Stuff like that happens all the time”, Kerr said. I missed a couple easy ones and it just kind of killed my whole game. They cut down on their mistakes during Game 3, but stayed aggressive and continued to score at their usual high rate. I would think they would rescind it.
