Draymond Green has played the villain role through two games of the Golden State Warriors-Memphis Grizzlies series.
One NBA legend thinks the play that got him thrust into that spot is being evaluated incorrectly.
During the Warriors’ Game 1 win, Green was ejected in the second quarter for what the referees believed was him throwing Brandon Clarke to the floor. Green was given a flagrant two that, even after review by the league, was not knocked down to a one.
The call was criticized by Green, the Warriors and NBA fans, and Shaquille O’Neal agreed on “The Big Podcast with Shaq” that it was the wrong call.
“That was not a flagrant two, he didn’t pull him to the ground," Shaq said. "If you look at how the guy jumped, Draymond hit him so he went ‘argh’ in the middle of the air. He wasn’t trying to land properly anyway, he was going to fall anyway. His left foot was already under the right foot, he was going to fall anyway.
“Draymond’s hand only moved a couple inches, then the guy fell and then he tried to hold him up. But of course Draymond, to fans it looked like he threw him down.”
Asked why, then, was it enough for him to get ejected, Shaq left no room for interpretation on his opinion.
"Well, this league is getting soft."
Green ended up giving the middle finger to the Grizzlies crowd during Game 2 for cheering him getting hurt. So we can dispute the Game 1 call as much as we want, Green and the city of Memphis aren’t about to become friends anytime soon.
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