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Draymond Green will not be suspended for Game 4, following kick

Draymond Green will not be suspended for Game 4, following kick

Following his altercation with Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams on Sunday night, Golden State Warriors All-Star Draymond Green will not be suspended for Game 4 of his team’s Western Conference finals contest with the Thunder.

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The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to report the news:

Green’s flagrant foul will be upgraded to a ‘Flagrant 2’ foul, upon review.

The decision will leave many league observers curious as to why Cleveland’s Dahntay Jones was suspended for a similar (some would say, “identical”) infraction on Sunday, while a clear star and series-shifter in Green was allowed to play another day.

Without claiming an opinion or defending Draymond, it is possible that the league absolutely does not want to see end of bench types get in the habit of picking fights with emerging stars, as Jones did to Toronto’s Bismack Biyombo, especially with such little harmful recourse (Jones lost $80 bucks in game pay due to his one-game suspension, a fine he won’t even end up paying) usually in the offing for both player and team.

Toss in Green’s continued protestations of innocence and, well, this tweet …

 

… and you may have a player that presented a solid enough defense.

Or, the NBA is only looking out for its stars, and it wants a Western Conference finals featuring four of the league’s top players to go the full seven games. And, also, for all four players to be around for those games.

The distinction between the Flagrant 1, initially called on Green during Game 3, and a Flagrant 2 are substantial.

In moving his foul up to a Flagrant 2, the league determined that not only was Green acting recklessly as he attempted to shoot over the larger Adams, but that the move was “excessive.”

The upgrade, however, is not an admission that the league feels the foul was intentional. A Flagrant 2 brings about an automatic ejection, which Green did not receive, though in retrospect the Oklahoma City Thunder are probably fine with the NBA’s blown call – the Thunder went on a 22-5 run to finish the half following the altercation, prior to scoring 45 points in the third quarter to run away with the win.

Worse, in the Warriors “win” with the league’s decision, is the note that just one more flagrant or technical foul from Green will result in an automatic one-game suspension. The league’s referees will be notably hesitant to blow their whistles, knowing what sort of consequences await, and this is not a good look for the NBA. Draymond Green was already afforded incredible leeway with the refs even prior to Sunday’s incident, and he is easily the league’s most active talker (when it comes to disputing calls) since Rasheed Wallace’s heyday.

In this decision, the league has opened up a massive can of worms while leaving itself open to understandable criticism. Somehow you got the feeling that, if any incident was going to encourage such an outcry, Draymond Green was probably going to be involved.

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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!