OAKLAND — The Golden State Warriors need Draymond Green’s intense vocal presence and physical play against LeBron James more than ever. He was built for this matchup.
They also need him on the basketball court.
According to league rules, if Green receives one more flagrant foul point, he will be under review for suspension in the NBA Finals. With five technical fouls in the postseason, Green is two quick whistles away from a suspension in that regard, too
Of all the storylines being presented by the media before Thursday’s Game 1, this one could end up having the biggest impact on the series.
“Doesn’t matter,” Green said when asked about the possible suspension will impact his demeanor. “I’m going to play basketball and do what I do on the floor. What’s going to happen is going to happen anyway. Just play my game.”
The Cavaliers have played extremely physical throughout the postseason, and have been involved in flagrant foul situations in all three of their prior series’ against Detroit, Atlanta and Toronto. Just how Golden State may bait Cleveland into a three-point shooting contest, the Cavs are going to try and bait Green into making a costly decision with his emotions.
“Draymond’s very aware of his play and his energy and his presence on the floor. So you don’t want to get in the way of that,” Steph Curry said. “There are times if it’s an emotional possession or a call or whatnot that you know could potentially flare-up into something bigger, you want to try to calm him down. Whoever it is, not just Draymond. It’s just kind of the protocol for being teammates. If you see something going down, you try to get in the way and calm your brother down as quick as possible, keep his perspective on what we’re trying to do and move on to the next play as best you can.”
When the NBA did not suspend Green for Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals, Green all but admitted he played timidly, going 1/7 from the floor with just 6 points and 11 rebounds. In Games 5-7, though, Green turned the corner, flying around like an NFL safety on defense and setting the table for Curry and Klay Thompson on offense.
In the eyes of Steve Kerr, it had to do with Green putting a lid on his behavior.
“I thought Draymond did a much better job of not complaining to the referees,” Kerr said. “After Game 3, he was sort of on probation, you know. So when he had bad calls, he may have discussed those calls with the referees, but he did it in a better way and he didn’t get himself in any trouble. He knows he’s got to be somewhat careful because of the technical foul rule and the flagrant stuff as well.”
When Green doesn’t play well, the Warriors have a track record of losing games. They did so in Game 3 of the first round against the Houston Rockets, where he committed 7 turnovers. And Games 3 and 4 against the Thunder have been well documented. When Green is facilitating the rock in transition and swatting shots underneath the hoop, the Warriors tap into his energy like an oil rig. When he’s not, things can get dicey.
“We want a repeat,” Green said. “That’s been our goal. There’s been seven teams in the history of the NBA to do it, and we’ve talked about being one of those teams to do that.”
There’s a fine line between hard fouls and harassing the referees. Green will have to become a master of skating it for the rest of June. A Golden State lineup without Green changes everything, and it will give the Cavaliers a bigger window of opportunity to knock off the defending champs.