by Jim SLATER
CLEVELAND, United States (AFP) — Golden State forward Draymond Green could only watch as his teammates missed a chance to capture the NBA Finals, but he’s back from a suspension and more motivated than ever.
“I owe it to my teammates to come back and give all I have, all I can do to better the situation,” Green said Wednesday. “To come back and be a piece of that great team is what I owe my teammates. I’ll move on from the suspension. It’s behind us.”
Facing Green and the defending champion Warriors is Thursday’s sixth game of the NBA Finals, with host Cleveland down 3-2 in the best-of-seven series after taking game five 112-97 while Green was banished.
Green, the only Warrior to play in all 88 combined regular-season and playoff triumphs this season, was banned for accumulated playoff flagrant fouls, the latest when a flailing hand struck Cavaliers star LeBron James in the groin late in a game four Golden State victory.
“I missed game five. I let my teammates down,” Green said. “I have to be better and not put myself in that position.”
Another flagrant or technical foul Thursday by Green would bring a ban for a Sunday game seven.
“I don’t go into game six thinking, ‘Will my patience be tested? Will it not?’ It’s a hard enough challenge trying to win a game in the NBA Finals,” Green said.
“I’ve got to come out and play my game regardless, but there are those little fine lines where you just know you can’t cross them. I just have to make sure that I’m well composed when those situations come about, that I control my emotions.”
Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said there will be no thought to trying to entice Green into losing his cool, as some accused James of doing in game five by stepping over a prone Green.
“We’re not going to go in trying to make him pick up a technical foul or flagrant foul,” Lue said. “You’ve got to play the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”
Instead of playing Monday, Green was exiled to watch on television from a luxury box in an adjacent stadium during an Oakland A’s baseball game, near enough to run over for a title celebration.
“It would have been the ultimate video to see him running across from the baseball stadium with a camera following him into the arena,” said Warriors star Stephen Curry. “It didn’t happen. But we’re going to have another opportunity and nobody will remember this down the road if we get this done tomorrow night.”
‘Emotional roller coaster’
Green was in misery, feeling helpless and that he would have made the difference.
“I have strong belief that if I play game five, we win,” Green said. “I do my teammates no justice in street clothes watching at the A’s game.
“It was brutal, man. It was one of the weirdest days ever for me. My emotions were all over the place. At times, I’m excited. At times, I’m frustrated. At times, I’m down, an emotional roller coaster.”
Warriors general manager Bob Myers watched with Green while co-owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber texted him constantly as he watched.
“The support that I received, I can’t take that for granted,” Green said. “It’s my time of need and who can you turn to? … Sharing that tough moment with me, it meant a lot.”
But the punishment taught Green he must keep better check on his emotions.
“I learned a lot, as a basketball player, as a man, just things you have to do,” he said. “One thing I’ve already been teaching myself and trying to learn how to do is control my emotions.
“Me not being out there on the floor to battle with my guys is being a bad teammate. I take pride in being a good teammate and the way I view it, it’s awful. Terrible teammate.”
“It’s an exaggeration to say he’s a bad teammate,” Warriors forward Harrison Barnes responded. “He said that, but we’re not going with that. Things happen.”
js/rcw
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