The NBA’s decision on whether or not Draymond Green would be suspended for Game 4 against the Oklahoma City Thunder was much anticipated on Tuesday, especially since the Thunder have forced a now must-win situation for the Golden State Warriors after an explosive performance that earned them a 2-1 series lead.
Green’s controversial low blow to Thunder big man Steven Adams was upgraded to a Flagrant 2 foul and Green did not earn suspension, but rather a $25,000 fine. NBA vice president of basketball operations KiKi VanDeWeghe touched on the league’s decision, per Sam Amick of USA TODAY:
We have professional investigators that conduct the investigation. They talk to the players, they talk to all the referees, including the replay officials, and they all come back and report to me. I obviously discuss it internally, and especially with referee operations, get their perspective. But at the end of the day … every play is different and that’s the problem. You take into account everything. You take into account what the referees have said. They obviously went with a Flagrant One last night, and you take into account the comparables. The problem with comparables is they never tell the whole story.
The immediate comparable became the play in the Cavs-Raptors series where Dahntay Jones punched Bismack Biyombo in the groin, which earned him a one-game suspension. VanDeWeghe addressed what he felt was the difference between the two situations:
But just to talk about the Dahntay Jones situation, I think that was basically a completely different play. That, you had somebody (who was) tussling for a rebound, and Jones brings back his hand his hand is open. And as he brings his hand back forward and makes contact with Bismack’s (Biyombo) groin area, the fist is closed. And so you have contact with a closed fist, so to me that’s a very different scenario and, to me, a different fact pattern, so it’s very different from what we’re talking about with Draymond, that I viewed as a flail that is becoming, you know, pretty common amongst our players in trying to sell calls. Draymond does it a fair amount, Westbrook does it a fair amount, and a number of other players. Unfortunately, in this particular one, Draymond’s leg connected in the same Adams groin area, the same area, as the Jones one, but everything else about the call, or the play, was really different.
Draymond made his argument based on the concept that he was selling a call trying to get a whistle. Like VanDeWeghe did here, Green made reference to Russell Westbrook often doing the same thing.
This play, like other significant, high-profile plays and circumstances with high stakes on the line, becomes a matter of interpretation. VanDeWeghe’s transparency shows that the league went deep into interpreting this play to reach their decision not to suspend Green for Game 5.
