So the natural order of things has occurred. LeBron James suckered Draymond Green into doing something wholly unnecessary. No doubt that James’ deliberate step over of Green was itself an act of provocation. No doubt that Draymond’s reaction was a natural one. But who had more to lose? In this case, Draymond Green. Who always gets punished in these avoidable situations? The retaliator.
What disappoints me about Green’s two-swipe response to LeBron’s stupidity is that he did exactly what James wanted him to do. LeBron knew full well that the step over would elicit a response from Draymond and if the response was enough, the league would look at it based not only on LeBron’s involvement, but because of Draymond’s previous interactions. I know he’s a passionate player and I never want him to play any other way. But I know that he is a very smart player as well. Smart players know the time, score and overall situation and act accordingly. Draymond Green let LeBron James get into his head. That should never happen because Draymond is smarter than that.
As I said earlier, smart players know the overall game situation and act accordingly. If you have a foul to give, you know to use it at the right time. If a player only goes to his right, you defend accordingly. If you’re up semi-comfortably with 2:48 to go in the fourth quarter, about to go up 3-1 in the Finals and you are one flagrant foul away from being suspended, do not get baited into retaliation!
Forget all of the BS macho posturing of, “Well, he stepped over me, I ain’t no punk!” None of that matters on the court. What matters is being cognizant of the situation and not getting caught up in a losing player’s game. What has transpired is exactly what LeBron wanted and it could have easily been avoided. Stand up straight, walk right up to James, call him what you want while pointing at the scoreboard. Tell him you know exactly what he was trying to do because that’s what losers do. And you’ll be back to see him lose another NBA Finals on Monday.
Instead, the Warriors are going into Game 5 without their most versatile player and on the horizon is a trip back to Cleveland. Can they win without Draymond? Of course. However, all of this could have been avoided if a smart man had not let his machismo get the best of him.