“Only a rule when Draymond Green is delivering”: Warriors star alleges NBA's bias after Jarrett Allen's nut shot
Golden State Warriors star forward Draymond Green was not a fan of a no-call during the Warriors’ 115-104 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday.
Early in the first quarter, Green went up for a rebound when he was kicked in the groin area by Cavaliers big man Jarrett Allen. The play resulted in Green falling to the floor and writhing in pain. However, the referees let the two teams play on.
After the game, Green took to social media, where he called out the refs for their bias against him:
“The Draymond Green Rule is only a rule when Draymond Green is delivering. … Cool,” Green captioned Allen’s kick on his Instagram stories.
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What does Draymond Green mean by the “The Draymond Green Rule?”
Green has a well-documented history of being on the wrong end of similar dirty plays throughout his 12-year career.
Most notably, Green kneed and kicked then-OKC Thunder big man Steven Adams in the groin in Games 2 and 3 of the 2016 Western Conference finals. The kick resulted in Green receiving a Flagrant 2 foul and a $25,000 fine.
Shortly after, Green infamously hit then-Cleveland Cavaliers superstar forward LeBron James in the groin in Game 4 of the 2016 NBA Finals. The hit caused Green to be suspended for Game 5.
Following Green’s antics in the 2016 playoffs, the NBA made it a point of emphasis to crack down on similar incidents. Ahead of the 2016-17 season, the league sent out a memo to all 30 teams about its plans to stop “unnatural acts.”
At the time, then-NBA senior vice president of replay and referee operations, Joe Borgia, said that the league was trying to protect its players:
“Now all of a sudden legs are coming out in different directions at weird times, they're coming higher,” Borgia said.
“Well, for the protection of the players, we're going to stop it.”
Most would probably agree that the league did a very good job of limiting these kinds of unnatural plays in recent seasons. However, it looks like Green would still like the league to ensure that it is applying penalties fairly to all of its players.
It remains to be seen if the league will issue any punishments to Allen for kicking Green.
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