Golden State Warriors: How Their Historic Season Slipped Away

2. Green’s Suspension

The Golden State Warriors got caught playing with their food, and after losing Game 7, they’re left with the rotten taste in their mouths of letting a historic 73-win season slip away.

Despite his massive final performance in an attempt to absolve himself of this burden, Draymond Green‘s Game 5 suspension will go down as the undisputed turning point during the greatest upset in NBA Finals history.

In the waning moments of Game 4, Green made a play on the ball(s), going (for the) nuts after LeBron James made a show of stepping over him to get back to the play.

Then ensuing flicka-da-wrist on the King’s jewels resulted in a well-earned Flagrant 1 upon further review by the league, putting him over the flagrant foul points threshold and punishing him with a one-game suspension for Game 5.

Whether the league should extend its flagrant foul leniency the longer a team lasts in the playoffs, whether Green actually made contact with the King’s gems or just got the taint (a fascinating debate behind closed doors in the league office that day, I’m sure), whether the contact was incidental, whether it was a warranted reaction since LeBron tried to treat Draymond’s forehead like a cup of tea…none of it is relevant now.

All that matters is Green, knowing full well how close he was to being suspended, lashed out in the worst possible moment. Ultimately, it was his team that felt like it got smacked in the groin.

Given that the masses believed he should’ve been suspended before the LeBron James altercation, tempting the fates in that way was downright negligent, especially for the emotional leader of a 73-win team.

The Warriors had Game 4 wrapped up and were just a few minutes away from heading back to Oracle Arena for an elimination Game 5. You could see it on the Cavs’ faces: They knew the series was over heading into a title clincher in an arena where the Dubs were 50-3 for the season.

In a flash, their outlook changed. Green was suspended, Klay Thompson and Mo Speights started running their mouths, and LeBron James was served heaps of bulletin board material on a silver platter. Without their best two-way player, the Dubs dropped Game 5 and struggled to find their mojo in Game 6 with all the confidence that James and Kyrie Irving had rediscovered at Oracle.

Draymond Green earned Second Team All-NBA honors, he probably should’ve won a Defensive Player of the Year Award over the last two years and he was pivotal during Stephen Curry‘s two-week absence in these same playoffs.

In Game 7, he was easily Golden State’s best player, finishing with a game-high 32 points, 15 rebounds, nine assists and two steals on 11-of-15 shooting from the floor and 6-of-8 shooting from downtown.

But unfortunately for Draymond Green, all the lovable swagger, unwavering confidence and abrasive trash talk that went hand-in-hand with his competitive fire came back to haunt his team, leaving this Bay Area hero as perhaps the biggest scapegoat behind the greatest collapse in NBA Finals history.

Next: No. 1