Why Draymond Green's comments aimed at Grizzlies fans are weak
If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen. Words Draymond Green should heed after giving Memphis Grizzlies fans the double bird on his way back to the locker room in the first quarter of the Grizzlies’ Game 2 win over his Golden State Warriors. It was a physical game in Memphis with […]
If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen. Words Draymond Green should heed after giving Memphis Grizzlies fans the double bird on his way back to the locker room in the first quarter of the Grizzlies’ Game 2 win over his Golden State Warriors.
It was a physical game in Memphis with Grizzlies’ guard Dillon Brooks ejected with 9:08 left in the opening quarter for a hard foul on Gary Payton Jr. Brooks’ takedown at the basket resulted in Payton suffering a fractured elbow.
The physicality continued just 14 seconds later when Grizzlies big man Xavier Tillman caught Green in the eye with an accidental elbow as the two were scrambling for a loose ball.
During the time he spent on the floor of the FedExForum regathering his senses, Green was met with a flurry of boos from the home crowd. Booing an injured player is looked down upon across the world of sports, but Green is a unique case.
After his Game 1 ejection for a Flagrant 2 foul earned by ripping Brandon Clarke down by his jersey after making contact with his face, Memphians had even more motivation to heckle Green. The blood leaking down his face from the cut above his eye did not soften the Grizzly faithful, thus leading to Green flipping off the Grindhouse on the way to get his injury cleaned up.
“He’s been known for flagrant fouls in his career,” Clarke said of Green after Game 1. “I’ve watched them on TV my whole life it feels like, so I wasn’t really shocked.”
Green loves to play the villain role, but when it comes to being treated like a villain, he doesn’t keep the same energy.
“It felt really good to flip them off,” said Green after Game 2. “You’re going to boo someone that got elbowed in the eye [with] blood running down [my] face — I could’ve had a concussion or anything. If they gonna be that nasty, I can be nasty too.”
Green seems to be lacking a sense of self-awareness. After all, he was the one running all over the court after his ejection in Game 1, inciting the Grizzlies crowd to shower him with boos on his way down the tunnel.
Golden State plays host to the Grizzlies on Saturday for Game 3 of the series, currently knotted at 1-1. Memphis is hoping to add its enforcer in Steven Adams (health protocols), who Green has tangled with before in the playoffs, back to the lineup.
Grizzlies fans will have to wait patiently for the series to return to Bluff City for Game 5 before they get another shot at Green. In what has already been an unpredictable series, if one thing is for certain it’s that Memphis isn’t the place to find the sympathy Green seems to be craving.
Featured image via Joe Rondone – USA TODAY Sports
