Two days ago, LeBron James came out and didn’t pull any punches — to him, the Golden State Warriors are not a rival to his Cleveland Cavaliers. Then came last night’s Cavs-Warriors game in Oakland, which the Warriors won by 35 points and one in which James suffered a hard foul from Golden State’s Draymond Green.
After the Warriors served the Cleveland Cavaliers up with a 126-91 thumping Monday night, vocal Golden State leader Draymond Green disagreed with LeBron James’ assertion that the teams aren’t rivals.
“Yeah, I think this is a rivalry,” Green said quickly, not allowing a reporter to finish his question. “It’s definitely fun. A team that you beat, beat you, it’s definitely fun. If you look at the last two years and this year, we’ve been the top two teams in the league each year, and so I look at it as a rivalry, and it’s definitely a fun game to play in.
“But I don’t really care if anyone else sees the game the way I see it. I see how I see it, and they can see it how they see it.”
James had said Sunday that the team he has faced in the NBA Finals the past two years isn’t on rival status, and he maintained his stance after Monday night’s loss.
“I don’t think there’s a rivalry,” said James, who also was the recipient of a hard hit by Green that was ruled a flagrant foul 1. “It’s two great teams that have aspirations. I don’t believe I’ve ever had a rivalry in the NBA. It’s just that too many guys move and go places and change different locations. It’s totally different from the ’80s, when obviously we saw the Celtics and the Lakers go at it so much, and I don’t look at it as a rivalry.”
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Most viewed this game for Golden State at Oracle Arena as close to a must-win situation as possible, considering it was still a regular-season affair.
“I don’t really think it’s about losing the last four that you want to win this game,” Green said. “Regardless of if LeBron thinks this is a rivalry or not, I know he wants to beat us and we want to beat them. And that’s enough in itself. You see each other two times a year; you want to beat each other. And then obviously if you’re fortunate enough to make it to the NBA Finals like the past few years, you see each other again.”
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Green was assessed a flagrant 1 after a hard collision with James midway through the second quarter. James was in a full sprint in transition when Green tried to cut him off near half court. Green ran shoulder first into James’ chest area, and the Cavaliers star fell to the floor upon contact.
“I think his shoulder hit me in the face,” James said. “It happened so fast, I didn’t even know who it was. But I’m all right. I’m a football player.”
Green checked on James while he was on the hardwood but seemed to think the four-time MVP had flopped and was milking the collision by remaining on the floor. He appeared to mock James’ tumble.
Teammates from both sides converged on the incident, and words were exchanged. After the officials reviewed the play, Green was hit with the flagrant 1.
Green also was assessed a technical foul on the play, as was Cleveland’s Richard Jefferson, who got in Green’s face while coming to James’ defense.
“I fouled him to stop the break, and he went down,” Green said. “And in the aftermath, I don’t know, I told RJ to get out of my face. Got a tech.”
Green was subbed out, but he appeared to continue to suggest James had flopped.
“It just looked like a normal foul, where a guy is in transition and you want to foul him and take away the fast break,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “Obviously, he went down hard and sold it pretty well. But when I look at the replay, I might think, ‘Oh yeah, that was definitely a flagrant.’ But I haven’t seen it, so it’s tough to assess, but [he’s] a pretty big, strong guy.”
Green downplayed the incident.
“Just in the heat of the moment in the game,” he said. “Having some fun. Nothing major.”
James also told ESPN that a Vine circulating on social media that made it appear like he was talking trash to Green was actually him responding to a courtside fan.
“I didn’t say anything to Draymond all night,” he said.
