The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Warriors’ Green suspended for Game 5
Green suspended for actions against James in Game 4 of NBA Finals
Game 5 of the NBA Finals got more interesting on June 12, and so did the Cavaliers’ chances of staving off elimination.
Golden State power forward Draymond Green was suspended for the June 13 showdown in Oracle Arena for what the NBA said was a “retaliatory swipe of his hand to the groin” of Cavs forward LeBron James after James stepped over Green when Green fell to the court late in the Cavs 107-98 loss in Game 4 at Quicken Loans Arena.
Green’s below-the-belt contact with James was labeled a flagrant foul 1. It was his fourth flagrant foul point of the postseason, which carries with it an automatic one-game suspension.
There is no chance for appeal. Green was hit with a flagrant foul 2 in the Western Conference finals for kicking Steven Adams of the Oklahoma City Thunder between the legs. He got a flagrant foul 1 in the first round for throwing Michael Beasley of the Houston Rockets to the floor.
Golden State’s loss is definitely the Cavaliers’ gain. They are down three games to one to the team that knocked them out in the Finals last year.
Green scored 28 points and grabbed seven rebounds when the Cavs last played in Oakland on June 5, a game they lost, 110-77. He scored just six points and had seven rebounds on June 8 at The Q in the only game the Cavs have won in the series.
Whether not having to worry about Green will make it easier for the Cavaliers to concentrate defensively on Warrior guards
Steph Curry and Klay Thompson will unfold as the do-or-die game progresses. The Cavs have to win to return the series to The Q on June 16.
“We still have to play,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue told reporters in typical coachspeak after the Cavs practiced. “I mean, it doesn’t mean anything because he’s suspended. They still have a great team, and we have to come out and play basketball. We can’t worry about the suspension.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr learned of the suspension while his team was practicing. He had to call Green off the practice court to deliver the news. Green’s suspension counts against the Warriors active roster, which in effect shortens the Golden State bench by a player.
“We’re going to have to take one of our available players and make him inactive, so that will be the biggest discussion because we use everybody,” Kerr told reporters. “We’ve used every single guy during the playoffs.
They’ve all been important, and that’s going to be a really difficult decision — who is inactive.
“As far as the game itself, we’re going to play a lot of people and we’ll give a lot of different looks and we’ll compete like crazy, and I think we’ll give ourselves a great chance to win.”
James is focused on the bigger picture more than on his confrontation with Green. This is his sixth straight NBA Finals and seventh overall. He is trying to break a personal twoFinals losing streak. He was with Miami when the Spurs wiped out the Heat four
games to one in 2014. The Warriors eliminated the Cavs in six games last year.
“You go out and you give everything that you have to your team and to your teammates, and you live with the results,” James told reporters. “I put a lot of hard work into my career and into this year, so I know what I’m capable of doing. I know what our team is capable of doing. But it’s not hard. You just go out and do your job.”
The “it’s not hard” remark was a response to a reporter asking “is it hard” to be facing an elimination game.