May 24--Draymond Green entertained plenty of questions at Golden State's shootaround Tuesday, just none pertaining to the NBA's having upgraded his kick to the groin of Oklahoma City's Steven Adams to a flagrant-2 foul the previous day.
His response to two questions about the incident: "That is an amazing question."
His response to a reporter saying he must be relieved he wasn't suspended: "That is an amazing statement."
Asked about the procedure involved with the NBA's investigation of the matter, Green said, "Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant are two amazing players that we need to stop tonight. Dion Waiters really got it going in this series, so we have to key in on him too."
Green was willing to address how he would handle the balance between being careful and playing the way he likes to play Tuesday night at Chesapeake Energy Arena during Game 4 of the Western Conference finals. If he picks up another flagrant foul, even a lesser flagrant-1 penalty, he will be suspended for one game.
"I'm never going to be careful," Green said. "I'm just going to be me and the game will play out how it plays out."
The Warriors have been the NBA's most resilient team this season, going 12-0 after losses, including 3-0 in the playoffs. Part of that may be rooted in the way they keep each other loose.
Stephen Curry said he ribbed Green before the shootaround about all the talking heads on television who said that the NBA's decision not to suspend Green for Game 4 was the wrong move. The point was that none of that matters.
"He's able to play and he's got to take advantage of the moment," Curry said of Green. "He'll still have emotion, an edge and that fire, but hopefully it will be directed at all about winning. That's it. There's no time really for anything else to take precedence for us knowing that this is pretty much a must-win situation."
The NBA's decision to upgrade Green's foul from a flagrant-1 to a flagrant-2 and tack on a $25,000 fine did not seem to surprise the Thunder.
"I didn't think twice about Draymond Green not playing," Durant said at the Thunder's shootaround. "He's Draymond Green. They're not going to suspend him."
Curry said there would be no hangover effect from having lost Game 3 by 28 points. With a victory Tuesday the Warriors would tie the series while reclaiming homecourt advantage.
"It's the playoffs," Curry said. "You can't dwell on it. Just like you can't dwell on a 30-point win. The score is 0-0, it's none of that soccer aggregate score stuff, so you've got to really turn the page. Obviously, we need to understand what we did wrong in the last game, but that's the only thing you should think about, not that we lost."
ben.bolch@latimes.com
Twitter: @latbbolch
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