Draymond Green is still upset about a missed call in the 2011 Final Four, where then-Butler sophomore Gordon Hayward hacked Green, a sophomore at Michigan State, on the game-deciding play.
Draymond Green holds a grudge against Gordon Hayward for a missed call in the Final Four
Hayward fouled Green and it wasn’t called on the most important play in Green’s college career. “Hell yeah,” he still remembers it.
“Hell yes. Absolutely,” said Green, asked if he remembered it by Warriors media. “That’s still a vendetta I have. I still hold that grudge. I still think about that every time I play him.”
Here’s a photo of the play, which clearly shows Hayward making contact.
Strangely enough, the only video I can find of the play is the NCAA uploading the entire dang game. Jump to the 1:26:20 mark for the play, which the color commentator doesn’t think is a foul — and admittedly, from a distant angle, looks like it might have been clean, even though the close-up photos clearly show it was not.
In the national championship game, Butler lost to UConn on Hayward’s iconic, barely missed half-court heave.
Now in the second round of the Western Conference semifinals, Green finds himself facing Hayward and the Utah Jazz, and the missed call still is giving him motivation. It’s not that surprising that Green would still be fueled by something that happened when he was in college, though. After all, he can name all 33 players that were drafted before him in 2012.
