The Golden State Warriors’ hopes of wrapping up a second successive title in front of their own fans on Monday night has suffered a blow after the NBA banned Draymond Green for Game 5.
The Warriors lead the NBA finals series 3-1 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, and require just one more win to clinch the championship. But the league has suspended the forward after he was assessed for a flagrant 1 foul. It was his fourth flagrant foul point of the playoffs, which leads to an automatic ban.
“The cumulative points system is designed to deter flagrant fouls in our game,” said the NBA executive vice president of basketball operations, Kiki VanDeWeghe. “While Draymond Green’s actions in Game 4 do not merit a suspension as a standalone act, the number of flagrant points he has earned triggers a suspension for Game 5.”
Green appeared to strike LeBron James in the groin area during the Warriors’ victory in Game 4 on Friday. He then confronted James, who claimed Green called him a “bitch”. Green had also struck Steven Adams in the groin during the Warriors’ Western Conference finals series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, and was fined $25,000.
“Draymond just said something that I don’t agree with. I’m all cool with the competition. I’m all fine with that, but some of the words that came out of his mouth were a little bit overboard,” James said after Friday’s game. “Being a guy with pride, a guy with three kids and a family, things of that nature, some things just go overboard, and that’s where he took it, and that was it.”
The Warriors will feel the absence of Green, whose fire and drive complements the skills of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. He leads the Warriors with an average of 9.6 rebounds per game this postseason. His 15.3 points per game are third behind Curry and Thompson.
