Basketball Hall of Famer and Warriors legend Rick Barry says the league made a mistake by suspending Draymond Green for Game 3 of Golden State's first-round series against the Kings.
"It was so inconsequential. In the playoffs, to suspend a player? I mean, that's total BS. I really don't understand. I think it's terribly unfair to the Warriors and Draymond Green. ... It's a bogus call on Joe Dumars' part," Barry said on 95.7 The Game's 'Willard and Dibs.'
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Earlier Wednesday, Dumars, the NBA's executive vice president, explained his decision to suspend Green for the Warriors' crucial game Thursday night at the Chase Center.
“This was not some snap-of-the-finger decision to do this,” Dumars said in an interview with The Associated Press. “There was much discussion, and back and forth, looking at the play itself over and over. And then ultimately we came to the decision that the act itself, and repeat offenses, actually did warrant a suspension.”
However, Barry said he didn't think Green's past incidents had anything to do with the league suspending the forward, and the officials' decision to upgrade the technical foul Green received for stepping on Sabonis in Game 2 to a Flagrant 2 wasn't warranted.
"Past occurrences mean nothing. It's based upon what took place. What took place was not a flagrant, terrible foul on the part of Draymond Green and what he's done in the past should have no relevance."
For their part, the Warriors were surprised themselves to learn that Green had been suspended after they were led to believe for most of the day Tuesday that Green would only face a fine.
"In their defense, what do they care what I have to say? I mean, they know what I'm going to say,” general manager Bob Myers said Wednesday at the team's practice. “They don't need me to make the decision.
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"As far as how we felt, you know, we've been here before and we've got to play a game tomorrow night. Once these decisions are made, there's no appellate court. It's over. So you can react however you want to react, but it doesn't change the fact he's not playing and we've got a game tomorrow night.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr also noted how taken aback he was when the official word came down from the league office.
It was surprising and disappointing but given this is the playoffs, we’ve got to move on," Kerr said on 'Willard and Dibs.'
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