Unrepentant Green returns against Kings
SAN FRANCISCO—Golden State star Draymond Green, banned five games by the National Basketball Association (NBA) after grabbing Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert in a headlock, on Sunday said his action leading to the suspension was his decision to defend a teammate.
And that he will never change in the way he plays the game.
Green lost his cool in the opening minutes of a game in San Francisco after teammate Klay Thompson and the Timberwolves’ Jaden McDaniels got into it and Green saw Gobert try to pull Thompson away.
He flung an arm around Gobert’s neck, dragging him across the court in what officials called a headlock but which could have as easily been called a chokehold.
“Anytime there is a situation and a teammate needs you to come to his defense, I’m going to come to their defense,” Green said as he prepared to return to the court on Tuesday against Sacramento.
‘That’s a brother’“Especially with someone I’ve been a teammate with for 12 years. That’s more than a teammate, that’s a brother.“I’m going to play basketball the way I play basketball,” Green said. “The way I play basketball has gotten me here. The way I play basketball has brought me a tremendous amount of success, individually and from a team standpoint, so I will always be myself. But I do understand and know there is room for growth and I need to be better in those moments in different situations.”The NBA may have been hoping for more reflection from Green when it meted out a suspension “based in part on Green’s history of unsportsmanlike acts.”
Green said he thought that was unfair. —AFP
