The Draymond Green flagrant foul
It isn’t hard to see why Draymond Green was ejected in the Warriors-Grizzlies set-to the other day. With one minute and change left in the second quarter, he moved to stop the drive of third-year forward Brandon Clarke first with a hack above the neck and then with a jersey grab that impaired momentum and caused loss of balance.
After a review, the contact was deemed excessive enough to merit the assessment of a Flagrant 2 foul on him, resulting in an automatic ejection and, just as importantly, getting him two Flagrant 1 fouls or one Flagrant 2 foul away from an automatic one-game suspension.
Green would go on to mock the decision; he reflected his teammates’ and coaches’ incredulity by egging on the 17,794-strong crowd at the FedExForum to boo him while dancing his way to the dugout. And so fired up was he in opposition to the call that he went on to record an episode for The Draymond Green Show in his hotel room after the match.
In the podcast, he explained that he “actually tried to hold (Clarke) up… (G)uys were told I was ejected for throwing him down, which is very interesting because even once he hit the ground I still was holding his jersey.”
Significantly, he used the very replays that justified his ejection and subsequently led to the league’s front office upholding the call to prove his point.
Which, in a nutshell, highlights the fact that Green’s reputation precedes him, for better or for worse. Not for nothing is he deemed one of the best defenders in the National Basketball Association, but his style of play treads the fine line between what is legal and what is illegitimate.
As he himself noted, if he could get suspended in Game Five of the 2016 Finals, then he could get suspended in a second-round series.
In any case, league honchos had reason not to rescind the flagrant foul. He did instigate a hit above the neck, and he did hold on to Clarke’s jersey while the latter was airborne — both dangerous actions that, absent a ruling, would have been emulated, especially coming from a former Defensive Player of the Year awardee.
For the Warriors, the good news is that they won the contest anyway. And because they did so, they now possess the added confidence to withstand the challenge a possible Green suspension brings.
Then again, he’s such an integral part of their system on both ends of the court that his absence cannot but be considered a handicap. In other words, he needs to dial down on his antics even as he stays true to himself. And only he knows, and only time can tell, if it’s easier said than done.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
