Golden State Warriors power forward Draymond Green has never been lacking in confidence, which is why it’s not at all surprising to hear him say that his presence in game five of the NBA Finals would have been enough to erase the Cavaliers’ 15-point lead. From ESPN’s Brian Windhorst:
“I have a strong belief that if I play in Game 5, we win. But I didn’t because I put myself in a situation where I wasn’t able to play,” Green said after watching the Cavs’ 112-97 victory from O.co Coliseum next to Oracle Arena while serving a suspension.
“I move on from the suspension. That was Game 5; we’re here in Game 6 so it’s behind us. We got an opportunity to do something that, I don’t know if it’s ever been done … where you win a championship on someone else’s floor two years in a row. We have that opportunity. It’s a fun one. It’ll be tough.”
As Windhorst points out, the feat that Draymond refers to –winning back-to-back championships on the road– has indeed been accomplished, by the Boston Celtics in 1968 and 1969, against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Due to Green’s accumulation of flagrant fouls, he was suspended during game five. He watched, unable to help his team, from a luxury suite at the Oakland Athletics’ game.
Speaking for the first time since Game 4, Green said he heard a lot of opinions on the NBA’s ruling to upgrade his actions involving LeBron James to a flagrant foul.
“At the end of the day, everyone is going to have their opinion on it and it don’t matter anymore,” Green said.
“I have to be better and not put myself in this position to where it is a decision, to where there is an investigation. I do my team no justice being in street clothes watching the game at the A’s game.”
