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Green initially expressed optimism that his Flagrant 2 foul would be rescinded entirely or reduced to a Flagrant 1 by the NBA.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.”
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.”
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