The moment you’re the best team in the league and defending NBA champions, there’s a bigger bullseye paint on your back. The Golden State Warriors and especially their fans hate hearing about it, but as long as Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut keep pulling s*** like this, the perception of being dirty and referees pets isn’t going away.
One of the impressive things about Draymond Green’s transformation from something of an enforcer into one of the best players in the league who can guard five positions and do pretty much anything offensively has also been his ability to modify his behavior on the court. No more elbows to the face of players and stuff like that. Strictly basketball, that’s it.
But it doesn’t mean Green is a player who doesn’t bend the rules in a pretty blatant way. The Warriors and their illegal screens have become something of a notoriety this season, although officials don’t do anything about it. They’re allowed to beat up more on defense than others
One example coming on the final possession of the Houston Rockets beating the Warriors 97-96 in game 3 is the way Green is defending the inbound pass.
He pretty much tackles Michael Beasley to prevent him getting the ball. It’s a bit meaningless because it’s not close to the play and the Warriors are losing the game anyway, but this isn’t the first time Green does things like this, almost like he knows no whistle is going to get blown.
Another play from the same game is a bit more irritating for those who hate seeing players get hurt over cheap moves. Andrew Bogut isn’t Green. He doesn’t have eye popping offensive talent. He’s a bruiser on both ends of the floor, and his blatant attempt to injure Dwight Howard in a similar play to Kelly Olynyk and Kevin Love from last season isn’t just cheap, it should be punishable. This isn’t just something to heat up the mood. It’s a deliberate attempt to injure a player. If this would have been a more popular player than Howard, there would be much more of an uproar.