The NBA suspended Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green without pay for Thursday’s Game 3 against the Sacramento Kings for stepping on Kings center Domantas Sabonis during Game 2, the league announced.
Green was called for a flagrant-2 foul and ejected with 7:03 remaining in Monday’s contest, while Sabonis was assessed a technical foul for holding onto Green’s ankle on the play.
Sacramento won Game 2 114-106 to take a 2-0 series lead.
Green said postgame that he was trying to find a place to step and pointed out that Sabonis grabbed him first.
“My leg got grabbed – second time in two nights,” Green said. “Referees, just watch it. I gotta land my foot somewhere, and I’m not the most flexible person, so it’s not stretching that far.”
Sabonis said he was guarding himself against Green potentially stepping on him, according to ESPN’s Kendra Andrews.
“When I fell, I was protecting myself, and then the incident happened,” Sabonis said. “There is no room for that in our game today.”
The NBA stated that the decision to suspend Green was partly due to his “history of unsportsmanlike acts.”
Green has previously courted controversy. The NBA suspended him for a contest after he hit LeBron James’ groin area in Game 4 of the 2016 NBA Finals. The play was Green’s fourth flagrant foul of the postseason, resulting in an automatic suspension.
The Warriors’ series deficit against the Kings is the first time they’ve trailed 0-2 in the Stephen Curry era. The series shifts to San Francisco for Game 3, where the Warriors went 33-8 during the regular season.
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