OKLAHOMA CITY -- Draymond Green kept saying it. He wasn't trying to kick Steven Adams in the groin in Game 3, a kick that was called a flagrant one and leaves him in danger of being suspended for Game 4 on Tuesday. The leg extending was a natural motion, and it was just unfortunate that it hit Adams between his legs.
Draymond Green and Russell Westbrook spent the last 24 hours arguing about groins and flopping
Green is awaiting a potential suspension after kicking Steven Adams in the groin, and now somehow Westbrook is involved in this, too.
"Russell (Westbrook) said I did it on purpose, but he's a part of the superstar group that started all this acting in the NBA," Green said before the Warriors' practice on Monday. "I didn't. So, I sold the call. He called me that way. I sold the call."
Westbrook brushed aside Green’s claim about him originating rampant flopping in the NBA.
“I don’t know about no flopping or nothing,” Westbrook said. “I don’t know how to flop. Seems like he was the one fully capable of kicking his legs and stuff yesterday.”
However, Westbrook wasn’t upset that Green roped him into what had been a two-man controversy between him and Adams.
“It’s normal. That’s normal,” Westbrook said. “Hey, you gotta rope someone into it. You wanna take the heat off of yourself.”
Green’s defense of the play, that he exaggerated contact which incidentally caused him to kick Adams between the legs, ironically might earn him a fine from the NBA for flopping. (Westbrook also noted that he’s never received one of those.) But Green and the Warriors would easily stomach that. The concern is a one-game suspension, a move that there is quite a bit of precedent for.
The final call on Green's suspension or lack thereof will fall to Kiki Vandeweghe, the NBA's vice president of basketball operations, who is in charge of an investigation looking into the play. However, there is no set timetable for when they'll announce that.
There's some precedent. A couple hours before Game 3 on Sunday, the NBA announced a one-game suspension for Cavaliers' backup Dahntay Jones for striking Bismack Biyombo in the groin. Green took issue with comparisons being made between the two plays, saying there was a difference between arms and legs.
“If I come punch you in the head, I probably did that on purpose, because I’m going to intentionally use my arm,” Green said. “But I don’t think you can ever really compare a leg to an arm.”
Green continued: “I see how someone could think it was intentional. But yet, nobody can go in my head and say, ‘Draymond was thinking about kicking him and he kicked him.’”
Steven Adams still believes that Green did it intentionally, saying replays he saw at home validated what he had in his head. He’s considering wearing groin protection in Game 4 after two-straight games of being hit there, but besides that, there’s no other changes to the way he plays. Green never apologized, but Adams doesn’t care about that.
“No,” Adams said. “Wouldn’t matter.”
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Draymond Green’s flagrant on Steven Adams
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