Draymond Green has made himself public enemy number one in Boston after his antics in the NBA Finals. The Boston Celtics and the Golden State Warriors have put on display some incredible basketball so far but Green has been the main talking point since Game 2.
His altercation with Jaylen Brown in that game kicked things off and Draymond did get some praise for shaking up the Celtics mentally in Game 2. Things didn’t quite go as well in Game 3, however, as the Celtics overwhelmed the Warriors in the fourth quarter to win 116-100 and take a 2-1 lead in the series. Draymond was criticized for his abject performance but fans also noticed his dirty play on Jayson Tatum’s previously injured shoulder while trying to box out after a free throw.
This is nuts pic.twitter.com/YjeHfYGTFl
— SameolDuff (@TheyHateDuffy) June 9, 2022
For some context, as reported by Boston.com, Tatum had suffered a right shoulder stinger in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat, and in this play, Green yanks that shoulder in what can be best described as a wrestling move.
Here’s @Money23Green intentionally not trying to get inside position, rather going behind Tatum and grabbing him from the top, over his body in an attempt to injure his shoulder. pic.twitter.com/HLOn9CCRzO
— PHX Fans (@PHXFansAZ) June 9, 2022
Fans were understandably furious after noticing this incident and they made their thoughts clear on the matter.
“Kerr employs this guy and he says Brooks broke the code”
“Dirty. Knows Tatum’s shoulder is hurting and goes there. Then cryes because he’s fouled out”
“@Money23Green such a punk move”
“Terrible, @NBA need do something about it, it’s enough this guy keep playing on that way.”
“I don’t even think they tackle this way in the NFL”
“fans favorite response on twitter be “imagine thinking draymond is out there to score” when folks bash em but y’all can’t defend em no longer! the man is out there playing mma with a couple illegal screens & dump off assists”
“Literally his injured shoulder players say this stuff is normal but bro literally tried to rip his shoulder out its pocket”
“I’m surprised nobody has knock green out on live TV…I would’ve been banned..”
“You can play physical but wrapping your arm around someone neck is illegal. I know most of you who agree with green antics only played pick up ball. That is called panick ball. He knew Boston had his number tonight. Enjoy him on his podcast for his excuses”
“Draymond be playing football like just change fields lmao”
“Man has the freedom of the basketball court. He has amnesty against techs”
“How is that not an automatic ejection? It’s not remotely part of basketball or a basketball act. Refs need to stop playing helpless victims and set the game straight.”
“He literally tackled and clotheslined Tatum to get out of position”
“This is crazy ♂️… I just don’t know how the allow this guy to do some of the stuff he does on the court,man!”
“Somebody on here said the other day that draymond resorts to playing dirty when the warriors are struggling. Not saying that’s true but this clip isn’t doing him any favors”
“Tatum does a great job maintaining composure. I don’t have that kind of resolve.”
“At this point I believe Draymond is looking to get ejected cos what in the world is this”
“he’s trying to injure Tatum. he knows he has a stinger there!”
“Man they gotta do something about Green enough is enough on everything!”
“draymond been wrestling people all series, celtics in 6”
While it is one thing to play mind games to try to put your opponents off their game, doing something like this is so out of bounds. Green’s antics so far hadn’t caused serious physical harm to anybody but this easily could have done some damage to Tatum’s shoulder. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case and Tatum was able to carry on without any issues.
We can only imagine the uproar it would have caused if this incident had led to Tatum missing some games in these Finals, especially with Boston now in the driver’s seat. It might have altered the outcome of this game itself as Tatum went on to finish with 26 points.
Draymond might have gotten the benefit of the doubt if his past record was clean but we all know that’s not the case. Almost everyone would remember him kicking Steven Adams in the groin during the 2016 playoffs and there was the foul on Brandon Clarke earlier in this postseason as well, which got him ejected.
Trash talking and all is part of the game and you can’t fault Green for doing that, but something like this is unacceptable, and if he doesn’t stop doing it, then the league might have to have a word with him at some point. These NBA Finals have been such a great watch and it is a shame that we even have to talk about something like this. Here is hoping that we just get to enjoy some great basketball the rest of the way.
