With Green suspended, Cleveland must seize Finals chance

With a game shy of being considered the best team in the history of the National Basketball Association, the Warriors will not get a win easily, knowing the Draymond Green will not play Game 5.

Klay Thompson leapt to the defence of Golden State Warriors team-mate Draymond Green after he was suspended for game five of the NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Their biggest issue is what they view as uncalled fouls when LeBron James drives to the basket – citing 11 different instances of Warriors forward Andre Iguodala whacking James across the arms. Either way, they’ll now have to make up the 14.8 points, 9.3 rebounds and 5.8 assists Green has been giving them in this series.

As his teammates went through shooting drills near the end of Sundays workout, Green could be seen off to the side speaking to Warriors general manager Bob Myers before returning to practice.

Kerr declined to offer up if he had any feelings of disappointment toward Green for the situation. I guess his feelings just got hurt. “I knew we got into a grapple at the top of the key, but me just trying to get back into the play”. “I just think we have to come back anyway, so we might as well come back and play (Game 6)”.

In one fell swoop the series’ competitive balance has been reset and – more importantly – we get a taste of bad blood in a league that has worked very hard to shy away from that kind of thing. There are those who will say Green’s punch wouldn’t have even warranted a personal foul in their day.

Golden State thinks Game 5 is a chance to make a statement. “I grew up with a lot of friends close in age and competitive”. Now I am not saying that you can not build your team through free agency, heck one of the most successful franchises in all of sports does this all the time – The New York Yankees. A breakthrough in the Finals for Kerr as he was contained by the defensive scheme of the Cavaliers during the first three games.

James, playing in his sixth consecutive NBA Finals, said the Cavs must believe in doing something special despite being down 3-1.

James wasn’t expecting Green to be disciplined and said he was just waiting to see how the National Basketball Association would handle the situation. “It’s been their call all year”. When under pressure Lebron James has came up short before and this is why many don’t consider him the the best player of all-time. Draymond, we know it’s going to kill him not being there, but we’re going to go out there and do it as a team and win for him.

Coach Tyronn Lue must be able to find a way to maximize the potential of Love. “I mean, he attacks”.

This is how the NBA Finals discussion has evolved: What is acceptable trash talk? Outside of Russell Westbrook, he’s one of the guys that attacks the paint every single play. “They probably won’t have ever seemed as excited before as when we get to Monday”.