The Golden State Warriors have their work cut out for them if they want to advance to the second round in the NBA Playoffs. They lost the first two games of their series against the Sacramento Kings on the road and are trailing 2-0.
If that deficit wasn’t hard enough to overcome, the Warriors will be attempting to do it for one game without the services of Draymond Green. Green has been suspended for one game by the league, without pay, for his actions in Game 2.
Green stomped on the chest of Kings’ center Domantas Sabonis with 7:03 remaining in the fourth quarter of what turned out to be a 114-106 victory for Sacramento. Green was responding to Sabonis grabbing and holding onto his ankle after Sabonis fell to the floor.
As a result of the play, Green was assessed a Flagrant-2 foul and ejected, while Sabonis was given a technical foul. Part of the reason that Green was suspended was his history of unsportsmanlike acts, which has cost the Warriors in the past and could very well cost them again here.
The suspension will be served on Thursday when the Warriors host the Kings for Game 3 at the Chase Center. Sabonis suffered a bruised sternum from the stomp and explained his side of the story after the game.
“When I fell, I was protecting myself, and then the incident happened,” Sabonis said after the game. “There is no room for that in our game today.”
While Sabonis was certainly at fault for grabbing onto Green, the escalation from the Warriors’ big man was an unnecessary one. While he has received support from plenty of people, such as Shaquille O’Neal for his actions, he is jeopardizing the team’s chances of winning and hopefully advancing by getting himself suspended again.
“My leg got grabbed — the second time in two nights — and the referee is just watching. I got to land my foot somewhere, and I’m not the most flexible person, so it’s not stretching that far,” Green said when explaining his side of the incident. “I can only step so far with someone pulling my leg away.”
When watching the video, it looks pretty blatant that Green stomped on Sabonis purposely. His claims of not being flexible could be valid, but when you stomp on a player and use their chest as a launching pad, there are going to be consequences.
Head coach Steve Kerr will have a big decision to make about who takes Green’s spot in the lineup. Game 3 is basically a must-win game for the Warriors as they do not want to fall down 3-0 in the series.
If Kerr opts to go small, Gary Payton II could get the call to start. If the Warriors want to keep some size in the lineup, Jonathan Kuminga could be called upon. Anthony Lamb and JaMychal Green could also see minutes in the frontcourt in place of Green.
More must-reads: