GREEN’S GAME 5 BAN WAS ENTIRELY AVOIDABLE
Draymond Green final-ly did it.
From Michael Beasley to Steven Adams to LeBron James, the Golden State Warriors forward left a trail of ill-advised, non-basketball plays that now run the risk of making this title defense just a tad bit tougher than before. He’s out for Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Monday, by way of the league’s ruling that his groin shot on James in Game 4 was a Flagrant 1 foul, meaning the Cleveland Cavaliers are that much closer to getting a win in Oakland with a chance to spook the champs in a Game 6 inside the comfy confines of Quicken Loans Arena.
It should never have come to this.
Say what you will about the league’s flawed Flagrant Foul point system — and coach Steve Kerr made salient points Sunday about the silly idea that players who make it this far get the same number of points (four) as those who fall out in the first round — but there’s only one player out of the 28 in this matchup who has been routinely finding his way into Kiki VanDeWeghe’s office. The NBA’s executive vice president of basketball operations made the final call on Green’s fate, and it surely didn’t help that his crotch-shot victim just so happened to be one of the game’s all-time greats in James.
I repeat: It should never have come to this.
As VanDeWeghe put it, Green was on notice, well aware a Flagrant 1 would cost him a game and a Flagrant 2 would cost him two games. And then what happened? He kicked Kyrie Irving late in Game 1, that right leg flailing like it so often does and nailing the All-Star point guard square in the chest. Somewhat surprisingly, the league office let it ride.
Then he took James’ bait in Game 4, falling for his step-over trick late in the fourth quarter and swinging at that touchy region of the body where so much of Green’s precedent lies. Give LeBron this much: When all seemed lost for the Cavs, his desperate, distasteful move paid off.
This has always been the Warriors’ nightmare scenario, that the same fiery ways that so often spark their special play would wind up scorching them at the worst possible time. Now here it is, with Green banned from the building while his teammates face the toughest of tasks: somehow slow this elite Cavs offense without their perennial defensive player of the year candidate while losing a crucial playmaker/scorer on the other end.
“We thrive off of Draymond’s competitiveness and his edge, and it’s been very important for us this year,” Kerr said. “Maybe that same quality has led him to this point, just his competitiveness and his passion. And that’s all part of it.
“We’ve got to figure out a way to still be effective at both ends without him. I don’t think we need to change things offensively. We’ll still play our game. We want to move the ball. We want to get up and down. So that doesn’t change. Obviously, we’ll miss his production, but other people can fill that void.”
Step right up Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes, James Michael McAdoo and all the rest. This is one monstrous void.
Green, who averaged 14 points, 9.5 rebounds and 7.4 assists per game in the regular season, was seen by many as the leader in the Finals MVP clubhouse after four games. He had helped relieve some of the stress that came with the Splash Brothers’ struggles, with back-to-back MVP Stephen Curry and All-Star guard Klay Thompson unable to find their shooting rhythm in those first three games.
In terms of overall impact, he led the Warriors in plus-minus rating during the regular season (+1,077, ahead of Curry’s +1,022) and has a +153 mark in 21 playoff games that is tops on the team by a large margin (Thompson is second at +118) in the postseason.
“Every game what he brings, the energy, the defensive presence, he’s a playmaker with the ball in his hands, and he’s a proven AllStar that’s done a lot for our team this year,” Curry said. “So we’ll obviously miss his impact and the intangibles that he brings to the game. We’re going to have to have somebody step up and do it by committee to replace that effort.
“We’ll figure out the lineups that we need to throw out there. We’ll figure out the plays we need to run and kind of the flow we need to have on the offensive end. Then obviously all five guys on the defensive end have to step up and guard your man and help each other out and play with even more energy than we have so far in this series.”
Pull that off, and it will be one of the most unusual celebrations you’ve ever seen.
A year after Green was drenched in champagne following the deciding Game 6 in Cleveland, he would be a little late to the party this time. Per league rules, Green is not allowed to be inside Oracle Arena two hours before the game through its conclusion. But he would be allowed in to take part in the possible championship party.
“We’ll all mentally prepare tonight what we’ve got to do to make up for Draymond’s absence, but we’ll just learn on the fly,” Thompson said. “I mean, I’m proud of this team, because we’ve been so great all year making adjustments, and this is just obviously a big adjustment we’ve got to make. But it’s another challenge for us, and we’re going to embrace it, and we’re going to accomplish it.”