The Los Angeles Lakers are training for the start of the playoffs (from YouTube)
Draymond Green has a lot of shares in Golden State's 4 championships, but along with the toughness, defense and heart that made him one of the anchors of the dynasty, there is also the negative side - the one that causes the team a lot of damage at too many critical junctures along the way.
Tonight (between Monday and Tuesday) it happened to Draymond again: again his focus shifted from the game itself to the opposing crowd and opposing players, again he lost his temper, and again he was sent off and abandoned the Warriors at a crucial moment.
It happened with 7:03 minutes left in Game 2 against Sacramento, after a power play on Domantas Sabonis as the Kings player lay down after a rebound battle.
Green and Sabonis clashed throughout the game, after tension was evident between them in the first game as well, but after the hard foul in question, the referees watched the replays and decided to send him off immediately - a decision not surprising considering Green's "rich" record with moves of this type throughout his career.
Green was close to losing his temper in the minutes leading up to that.
He almost got into a physical confrontation with Malik Monk at the end of the third quarter, bumped into Sabonis on purpose and accidentally knocked him to the floor at the beginning of the last quarter, and eventually also committed the foul that caused the ejection.
As the refs watched the replays to decide whether to send him off, Green waved to the Sacramento fans and appeared agitated and disoriented.
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In the end, Golden State paid a heavy price for his suspension.
Without him, she was unable to produce defensive stops against Sacramento's excellent attack, losing 114:106 and falling behind 2:0 in the series.
Of course, the social networks didn't wait a single moment to celebrate Green's towering rampage, and claimed that he ruined the game for the Warriors, maybe the entire season, when one of the sites humorously presents an old episode of Green's podcast, which he called "This is how I ruined a championship for the Warriors", as a new episode .
Either way, Sabonis was injured as a result of the stomping, and after the game he underwent x-rays in the ribs and lungs.
His fitness for Game 3 will be tested soon.
Somewhat surprisingly, especially given Green's troubled past in such cases, there were also those who defended him and argued that he should not have been sent off.
Damian Lillard watched the game live, and immediately after the expulsion tweeted: "It's a foul by Sabonis. I don't think Dre tried to step on him, he just lost his balance...".
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Steph Curry and Klay Thompson also backed Green, while Steve Kerr avoided an answer and claimed that "I didn't see the move."
"All I know is that Sabonis grabbed Draymond's leg. I don't know what you're supposed to do and how you're supposed to react in a situation like that," Kerry said.
"You shouldn't just grab someone's leg while they're sprinting to attack. It's not cool at all," agreed Thompson.
The former player of the Warriors Festus Azili claimed on the broadcast of the NBC network that it was a wrong decision.
"It's a hard whistle, and it changed the whole momentum of the game, because the Warriors were in the middle of a run. The referees made it worse with Draymond, they should have examined this case better before sending him off."
This was also Green's claim at the end, when at the press conference he presents himself as a victim.
"I've had my ankle caught in a very dangerous way for two games in a row," Green said, referring to another incident in Game 1, in which he faced Malik Monk, "but apparently grabbing someone's ankle while they're on the floor is not something to be concerned about. I just got caught The leg, and not for the first time, but the judges are standing and watching. My leg had to land somewhere."
Guilty or victim?
Green (Photo: Reuters)
In doubt for game 3?
Sabonis (Photo: GettyImages, Ezra Shaw)
Whether Green's offense was intentional or not, the bottom line is the Warriors are in a very deep hole.
The last time Golden State fell behind 2-0 in a playoff series was sometime in 2007, before Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green joined the team.
Needless to say that Steve Kerr, who came after them, was never in such a position as a coach.
History shows that the Warriors' chances of getting out of this are very low.
In fact, since the NBA started playing in the best-of-7 series format, teams that led 0:2 advanced in 92% of the cases.
But even though the Warriors have only an 8% chance left, Draymond Green sees it as a big challenge.
"For me, it's a new and exciting challenge," said Green, who is unlikely to be removed from the third game in the series as well.
"We haven't been in such a situation yet, but we got out of every other possible difficult situation in the past, so why can't we succeed in doing this too?"
Kerry also believes that despite the statistics, there is still a chance for a turnaround.
"You have to just accept the situation. We've been doing it for so long together...we've been through 28 series, and we've never been in a situation like this - but we know how to handle difficult situations. We have to stay together, stay focused, and understand what and how We need to improve."
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Draymond Green
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