Flagrant foul tracker is underway for Green
OAKLAND, CALIF. — Draymond Green was called for his first flagrant foul of the 2018 NBA playoffs Monday night when he caught Davis Bertans in the face with an elbow as the two were tied up for a rebound beneath the basket late in the fourth quarter of what became a 116-101 win for Green’s Golden State Warriors over the San Antonio Spurs.
But to hear Green tell it, Bertans was equally to blame.
“It is what it is,” Green said. “I didn’t even see the replay. I thought it was a little bit of a flop, I don’t even know if I hit him. But if I did — I’m not saying I didn’t, I don’t know — but if it’s going to be a flagrant foul, shouldn’t it be a double flagrant? I can just get grabbed around my neck?
“I’m not going to sit up here and say: ‘I did nothing.’ But I got to get someone off my neck though. If you’re going to penalize me, why not penalize both? That’s my thing.”
Whether Green has a point, here are the facts:
Bertans and the Spurs will likely be done by early next week, perhaps as soon as Game 4 Sunday in San Antonio. Whether Bertans gets a flagrant foul point is irrelevant.
Green, on the other hand, needs to be careful he doesn’t put himself in the same situation he did in 2016, when he was suspended for Game 5 of the NBA finals after punching LeBron James in the privates during Game 4.
That play wasn’t what got Green suspended, though. It was the accumulation of four flagrant foul points over the course of the playoffs — a process that began with a completely unnecessary body slam of Michael Beasley at the end of Game 3 of Golden State’s first-round series against the Houston Rockets.
In a few weeks, if Golden State is dealing with a Green suspension during a pivotal game against either those same Rockets or Cavaliers, this will be the moment everyone comes back to — when Green lost his cool while battling for position in the post and caught Bertans in the face.
Green kept bringing up the possibility of the play getting rescinded — which would mean his flagrant foul point would go away with it.
“Nah, I don’t care,” Green said when asked about the flagrant foul count adding up over the playoffs. “It is what it is. Life goes on. More important things in life than worrying about a flagrant point. Maybe it’ll get rescinded. I got put in a chokehold like I was in WWE or something. So it may get rescinded. Who knows?”
Assuming it doesn’t, though, Green’s rush of blood to the head could be a small footnote in an otherwise rote victory for the Warriors Monday night that could wind up looming far larger down the road — just as it did in 2016.
More important things in life than worrying about a flagrant point.
DRAYMOND GREEN
Warriors forward