Draymond Green Suspension Enrages Golden State Warriors Fans: 'Ridiculous'
Golden State Warriors fans hit out at the NBA's suspension of forward Draymond Green, which means he will miss the third game of their playoff match against the Sacramento Kings.
Joe Dumars, the NBA's executive vice president and head of basketball operations, announced on Tuesday that Green would miss one game after he stamped on the chest of Kings center Domantas Sabonis.
The incident occurred with 7:03 left on the clock in the fourth quarter of the Warriors' 114-106 loss to the Kings in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series on April 17 at Golden 1 Center.
Green will serve his suspension on April 20, when the Warriors host the Kings for Game 3 of the series at Chase Center.
The league has announced that the suspension was based in part on Green's history of unsportsmanlike acts.
Green's actions were in response to Sabonis grabbing and holding Green's right ankle after falling to the floor.
He was given a flagrant foul 2 and ejected from the playoff game, and Sabonis was given a technical foul.
After the game, Green referred to an incident that happened in Game 1 with Malik Monk, when defending his actions in Game 2.
The Warriors star said: "My leg got grabbed. Second time in two nights. Referees just watch it. I have to land my foot somewhere. I'm not the most flexible person, so it's not stretching that far."
Sabonis said about the incident: "We're both fighting for the rebound. We fell on each other. Stuff happens. It's basketball. We've got to move on to the next play."
Sabonis' teammate De'Aaron Fox spoke out after the game, following the news that Sabonis was have X-rays to check on his ribs and lungs.
He said: "Obviously, we hope our brother is OK. We hope he's not injured. Even just outside of basketball, to fracture a rib or puncture a lung, that's a serious injury. So we just hope for the best right now."
Green has been suspended during the NBA playoffs previously, with him missing a game during the 2016 NBA Finals for accumulating too many flagrant fouls in the playoffs during that season.
He was also ejected from a playoff game when the Warriors played Memphis Grizzlies last season.
Warriors fans were raging on Twitter after the suspension was announced.
One fans' page tweeted: "Has the NBA ever suspended a player for a must win game based on past acts in the history of the League? This is ridiculous, biased b********. And that's before you even consider that Sabonis created the entire situation.
One tweeted in reply: "Something doesn't smell right."
Another added that Sabonis should get suspended as well: "If they are going to suspend Draymond, they need to also suspend Sabonis. Total b*******."
While a third pointed out: "If Sabonis let's go of Draymonds ankle as he tries to run up the court he never rolls to his back. If he never rolls to his back he never gets stepped on. Instead, he commits the act and the result of HIS act gets Draymond suspended."
Others believed that Green got what he deserved, with one tweeting: "Love the Dubs but this is on Draymond. The stomp, the antics after the expulsion, commissioner at the game and his past acts justified the suspension."
This was seconded by another Twitter user, who wrote: "Stop it. Dray stomped on a guy in the middle of a basketball game. He's lucky he didn't get hit with two games. Hardly matters that Sabonis instigated because Dray was egregious."
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