Warriors: Draymond Green honored by reputation, vows never to change
The Warriors weren’t surprised by the NBA’s decision to not downgrade
Draymond Green’s Flagrant 2 foul from Game 1 of the Western Conference
semifinals against the Grizzlies on Sunday.
>MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE – MAY 2: Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green (23)
listens to a question during a press conference the day before Game 2 of
an NBA basketball second-round Western Conference playoff series at the
FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn., on Monday, May 2, 2022. (Nhat V.
Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
>MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE – MAY 2: Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green (23)
listens to a question during a press conference the day before Game 2 of
an NBA basketball second-round Western Conference playoff series at the
FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn., on Monday, May 2, 2022. (Nhat V.
Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
By MADELINE KENNEY | mkenney@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: May 2, 2022 at 4:15 p.m. | UPDATED: May 2, 2022 at 4:24 p.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/05/02/warriors-draymond-green-honored-by-reputation-vows-never-to-change/

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Warriors weren’t surprised by the NBA’s decision to
not downgrade Draymond Green’s Flagrant 2 foul from Game 1 of the
Western Conference semifinals against the Grizzlies on Sunday.

Ultimately, neither was Green.

And don’t expect the Warriors star to change a thing about his game,
despite him being two flagrant foul points away from an automatic
one-game suspension.

“I’m never going to change the way I play basketball,” Green said Monday
after practice. “It’s gotten me this far, it’s gotten me three
championships, four All-Stars, Defensive Player of the Year – not going
to change now.”

Green was slapped with a Flagrant 2 foul late in the second quarter of
Game 1 on Sunday for what crew chief Kane Fitzgerald deemed “unnecessary
and excessive” contact with Brandon Clarke. On the play, Green hit
Clarke in the head and then grabbed the collar of the Grizzlies
forward’s jersey as his hand came down.

Green has maintained that his hand unintentionally got caught in
Clarke’s jersey as the two descended.

After the Warriors’ thrilling 117-116 win, Clarke said he wasn’t
surprised by Green’s actions, noting that he’s seen the veteran make
plays like that throughout his career.

Green on Monday was unbothered by Clarke’s comments, though he believes
his reputation of being a physical player is part of the reason the
referees decided to toss him.

“My reputation is a badge of honor,” he said. “Not everybody can earn
that reputation. So life goes on.”

Green initially expressed optimism that his Flagrant 2 foul would be
rescinded entirely or reduced to a Flagrant 1 by the NBA. But the league
came to the conclusion the referees made the right call.

“I have no reaction,” Kerr said in response to the league’s decision.
“We’re powerless in this stuff so whatever the league decides, whatever
the referees decide, that’s what stands and then we have to move on to
the next game.”

Added Stephen Curry, “It doesn’t really matter in terms of how we feel
about it. Good thing about what we do and hopefully what Draymond can do
is put it behind him and continue to be himself, play his game and
impact the game like he knows how to do. But it’s obviously not shocking.”

Still, Curry believes the Warriors will have to be mindful of the
situation Green is in moving forward.

With the Flagrant 2 foul call staying as is, Green now has two flagrant
foul points to his name this postseason. If he gets two more, he’ll have
to serve an automatic one-game suspension. (Players receive two flagrant
foul points for a Flagrant 2 foul and one for a Flagrant 1 and have to
sit out a game if they accrue four points.)

Green was suspended from Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals after picking up
four flagrant points in the playoffs.

Kerr was critical of the league’s flagrant foul point system in the
playoffs, saying it doesn’t make sense how a player with a first-round
exit is allotted the same amount of points as a player who makes it to
the NBA Finals.

“One guy plays 25 games, the other guy plays four, and it’s the exact
same rule,” Kerr said. “I’m not quite sure how or why that is the case.
Regardless, it is what it is.”

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Green said there’s a laundry list of “old and outdated” rules, including
the playoff flagrant foul point system, that remain unchanged because
“people are too lazy to go change them.”

Curry supports Green being true to himself and his style of the game.

“I just want him to be himself and making plays he knows he’s capable of
making, impact the game, be physical,” he said.

That’s exactly how Green plans to attack each game.

“If I take the bite out of the way I play then we go home early and the
points don’t matter anyways,” he said. “I don’t know how to take [the]
bite out, that doesn’t really work for me.”

--
Madeline Kenney | Warriors reporter