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It wouldn’t be a Golden State Warriors playoff run without Draymond Green getting kicked out of a game for something incredibly dirty.
Green was ejected from the Warriors’ Game 2 loss to the Sacramento Kings after stomping on the chest of Kings star Domantas Sabonis.
After the game, Green blamed Sabonis for pulling on his leg as he tried to get back down the court.
Draymond Green: “My leg got grabbed. Second time in two nights.” Said he needed to put his foot somewhere but officials told him he “stomped too hard.”
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“My leg got grabbed. Second time in two nights. Referees just watching,” Green said in the post-game press conference, explaining the incident to reporters. “I gotta land my foot somewhere and I’m not the most flexible person, so it’s not stretching that far.”
Green’s history doesn’t exactly allow him to get the benefit of the doubt most times. But this is apparently didn’t. Shaquille O’Neal said on Inside the NBA that he would’ve done the same thing. Though he still considered it a dirty move.
“I’m not gonna sit up here and be a hypocrite. I would have done the same thing [as Green],” O’Neal said when discussing the incident. “Don’t be grabbing me, because what am I gonna do? If I stay there and just try to run forward, I’ll fall. You gotta get him up off you. And if you up off me and you in the way, you might get stomped on. Was it a dirty play? Of course it was a dirty play. But, hey, don’t grab me and this won’t happen.”
The Warriors are now 2-0 down as the series heads back to Golden State. And Green could face a suspension for Game 3. A loss puts the defending champs on the verge of an embarrassing first-round elimination.
But on the other side of the coin lie the Kings. Sacramento is looking for its first playoff series win since 2004. And with Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox leading the way, there’s not telling where their run could end.