Golden State ahead Draymond Green was once ejected from the Warriors’ playoff loss to the Kings after stomping at the chest of Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis.
The play took place within the fourth quarter of the Kings’ 114-106 win in Game 2 of the first-round sequence on Monday night time after Stephen Curry grabbed a defensive rebound.
With the protecting NBA champions pushing the ball up court docket and Sabonis at the flooring, Green took a difficult step proper onto his opponent’s chest. Sabonis stayed down for a couple of mins as officers reviewed the play.
“My leg got grabbed,” mentioned Green, regarding a play in Game 1 with Malik Monk. “Second time in two nights. Referees just watch it. I have to land my feet somewhere. I’m not the most flexible person, so it’s not stretching that far.”
Sabonis was called for a technical foul for grabbing Green’s leg and Green was given a flagrant-2 foul that led to an automatic ejection.
“We’re both fighting for the rebound,” Sabonis said in a postgame interview on TNT. “We fell on each other. Stuff happens. It’s basketball. We’ve got to move on to the next play.”
Kings coach Mike Brown said Sabonis was set to undergo X-rays to check on his ribs and lungs after the game.
“Obviously, we hope our brother is OK,” teammate De’Aaron Fox said. “We hope he is 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.”
During the review, fans in Sacramento yelled derogatory chants toward Green, who egged them on by waving his hands, holding a hand to his ear calling for louder cheers and standing on a chair.
“I was just having fun,” Green said. “It’s a fun game and fun atmosphere to play in. It’s fun.
This isn’t the first playoff infraction for Green, who got suspended for one game during the 2016 NBA finals after accumulating too many flagrant fouls in the playoffs that season. He was also ejected from a playoff game against Memphis last season.
Green has been called for six flagrant fouls and 27 technical fouls in 147 career playoff games.
Now the question will be whether the play warrants any additional suspension or punishment.
“It’ll be interesting to see with what the NBA does after they review it,” Brown said.
The Kings closed the game strong after Green was ejected. They became the first team to take a 2–0 series lead over the Warriors in the Stephen Curry era. The Warriors will try to get back into the series when it shifts 90 miles southwest to San Francisco for Game 3 on Thursday night.
“Got to embrace it,” Curry said. “You do this for as long as we have … we have to stay together and locked in.”
Fox scored 24 points and made a backbreaking three-pointer that led the playoff newcomer Kings to their second straight victory.
“I feel that introduced us in combination,” Fox said. “We huddled up and were like, ‘We have to win this game.’ Everybody thought he’d be ejected. When that happens, usually that team comes together and goes on a run. But we were able to negate that.