It takes a villain, and Green obliges
CLEVELAND — Like a heel in pro wrestling seeking heat from the crowd, Draymond Green grinned up at the angry fans, lifted his hands and urged them to give him everything they had in the third quarter of Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
After the game, he stoked the kindling.
“I don’t pay much attention to anybody in Cleveland, honestly,” Green said. “Don’t seem to be the sharpest people around.”
Green’s history with Cavaliers fans goes back to last year when he was suspended for Game 5 of the Finals for swiping at LeBron James’ groin area after James stepped over him. The moment changed that series. The Warriors entered that game up 3-1, just like they are now, but they didn’t win another game.
That incident established Green’s status as a villain in Cleveland. In Games 3 and 4, the crowd waited for Green to lose his cool. Both nights, they found cause to chant “Draymond sucks” — earlier in Game 4 than in Game 3. In Game 4, a foul called on Green caused him and Warriors coach Steve Kerr to argue with the officials. The Warriors were called for twice as many fouls as the Cavaliers in the first quarter.
Referee John Goble issued a technical foul to Kerr for his protest.
“I thought they called it on Draymond,” Kerr said. “I thought I deserved it. But I thought I heard the announcer say, the P.A. announcer say, that it was on Draymond.”
The public address announcer did announce the technical foul was on Green. It was marked that way in the original box score too. So when Green was T’d up in the third quarter, the video board played “Hit the Road Jack,” assuming he was ejected with his second technical foul.
Green said he knew all along the first one wasn’t on him.
“They messed that one up bad,” Green said.
But it didn’t stop him from having some fun with the fans.
Meanwhile, the officials had to correct what they then realized was a recording error by the scorer’s table. They hadn’t paid enough attention in the first quarter to notice that the public address announcer had mistakenly announced Green as the recipient of the first-quarter technical.
“The procedure is to advise the table who the technical foul is on, and with the player, we give a number,” official Mike Callahan told a pool reporter. “With a coach or trainer, we just verbalize, and at that time, we should listen to the P.A. announcer to who it is on. At that time, we did not do a very good job of listening to the P.A announcer, and we did not hear him announce it. I take full responsibly for that.”
It was only one part of a confusing and emotionally charged third quarter. In all, five players were called for technical fouls in the third — James and Iman Shumpert from the Cavaliers and Kevin Durant, Green and Zaza Pachulia from the Warriors.
The Warriors go into Game 5 with the same 3-1 lead as last year. But this time they will have their gritty forward available for the potential closeout game.
“Thank God I get to play on Monday,” Green said. “Hopefully.”
Record range
The Cavaliers’ 24 threepointers in Game 4 set an NBA record in a Finals game, and it was an especially rare feat for Cleveland.
Those two dozen threepointers were six more than they made in any other game this season, including the playoffs. Prior to Friday night, the Cavaliers had made 18 three-pointers thrice — against the Miami Heat, the Boston Celtics and the Warriors — and lost all three games.
In fact, 18 times during the regular season and playoffs, Cleveland didn’t even attempt 24 three-pointers.
Their 53% three-point accuracy (24 for 45) also was significantly better than they shot in any other Finals game. Cleveland shot 36% from three-point range in Game 1 and below 30% in both Games 2 and 3.
No comparison
Although the Warriors went home for Game 5 last year up 3-1, guard Stephen Curry won’t compare their current situation to that one.
“Man, different team, man,” Curry said of the Warriors, who on Friday suffered their first loss of these playoffs after winning their first 15 postseason games. “Obviously, we haven’t felt this feeling walking off the court with a loss in a while, but we have done a good job of bouncing back and being resilient all year and obviously learning from all different experiences we have been through.
“I love the vibe we had in the locker room after the game, understanding what we need to do differently to play better, to have a better first punch in that first six minutes, to play with more force and aggressiveness and physicality. Talked about it. Going home is a good feeling, but it has to go with playing better. We obviously know you can’t just go home and expect to win.”