Landon Buford
The Golden State Warriors pulled out a one-point win in game one of their Western Conference Semi-Finals against the Memphis Grizzlies.
They would have to play the whole second half without Draymond Green. He would be ejected with 1:18 left in the first half following a flagrant foul two against Brandon Clarke. Green was tossed for hitting Clarke in the face and dragging him down by the jersey.
However, before he was thrown out Green could be seen showing the same type of emotion that Antonio Brown showed before he left the field this past season for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers minus taking off his football jersey and going shirtless off the court.
After it was announced that Green was ejected, his mother, Mary, took to Twitter to share her reaction.
“I still can’t believe that CALL on Draymond Green! Trying to do the right thing! If that was blatant his face would have hit the floor!”
After the game, Green’s teammate Stephen Curry shared that the ejection wasn’t deserved.
“Nobody wants to see that. It’s not good for the game. I don’t think it deserved that, obviously,” said Curry via Ben Golliver of the Washington Post.
Meanwhile, Clarke was asked about the ejection and shared he wasn’t shocked by it.
“I can take a hit. He’s been known for flagrant fouls in his career. I’ve watched him on TV my whole life it feels like, so I wasn’t really shocked,” Clarke said. “I don’t really like to flop or nothing, but he did hit me pretty hard twice, really, when I saw it again. It’s just us coming out and playing our ball. I’m not really worried about it or nothing. It’s not shocking he did that. It’s something he did in the past.”
Draymond Green was not available to the media after the ejection. However, he offered his thoughts on the Draymond Green Show.
“One thing about that foul I tried to hold him [Brandon Clarke] up and I wasn’t told anything because I left the court, but guys were told I was ejected for throwing him down. Which was very interesting because even once hit the ground I was still holding his jersey up. But, at this point, I expect things like that. I have been suspended for game five of the NBA Finals did you think for one second don’t believe I would get kicked out of game one of the second round? Not surprising to me a lot not one bit,” said Green.
“When they review the foul as long as they reviewed it, I said to myself, I said hmm, what could they be deciding that’s possibly going to take this long. I’m actually dumb enough to think I wasn’t going to get a flagrant one. Talk about an idiot if you want to call anyone an idiot. Look no further than Draymond Green, himself.”
He added, “You know what’s crazy? I was literally going to start dancing to the crowd saying ‘kick him out’ to taunt them because kick him out for that? When I was literally inching off the scores table something told me it’s you involved in this play Draymond. So, since it is you involved in this play you probably shouldn’t dance because you should always expect the unexpected.”
Green is hoping to have the flagrant two downgraded to a flagrant one for playing status moving forward.
Game two will be on Tuesday against the Grizzlies at 9:30 pm EST on TNT.
