Golden State’s Draymond Green in another playoff dustup

Reportedly, Green uttered an expletive at James during the altercation that began when Green seemed to strike James in the groin.

Things got testy between LeBron James and Draymond Green late in the Warriors’ 108-97 win over the Cavs in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Friday.

Draymond Green attributed his incident with LeBron James in game four of the NBA Finals to his refusal to back down from the four-time MVP.

“He stepped over me”, Green told the league’s television network. There’s many routes you can take. If you look in his eyes _ I say you can talk to some people and look in their eyes and not see anything. If you’re up a couple touchdowns versus Aaron Rodgers, you just know you can’t relax because one 60-yard bomb here, 70-yard connection here, they’re right back in the game. “I’m all fine with that, but some of the words that came out of his mouth were a little bit overboard, and being a guy with pride, a guy with three kids and a family, things of that nature, some things just go overboard and that’s where he took it, and that was it”. Now up 3-1, the Warriors return home on Monday to try and close it out.

But repeated major fouls by Green could lead to a suspension for striking James if league officials review the play and decide Green committed a flagrant foul.

Green was fined $25,000 and charged with a flagrant foul in the Warriors’ last series against Oklahoma City for kicking Steve Adams in the groin. The NBA can upgrade his foul on James to a flagrant if it sees fit. Like I said, as a competitor, I love going against Draymond and I’m all about going out there and leaving it out on the floor. That’s the league office.

Green has averaged 15.0 points, 9.7 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 1.9 blocked shots and 1.6 steals a game for the Warriors in the playoffs. Kyrie Irving led Cleveland with 34 points.

“My mindset is let’s get one”, James said, hoping to force a sixth game in Cleveland on Thursday.

He’s unrelenting, he tests everybody’s limits, he can test the Warriors players and coaches, too. “But in the NBA Finals you’ve got to lay it all on the line. And what you saw on the court looked uncharacteristic of LeBron James when he got into it with Draymond and then Steph, but that is why he got into it with those guys”. Those are still fouls and we weren’t able to get them.

The Warriors, who won a record 73 regular-season games, must avoid thinking the series is done when they need one more win.

“This is a great opportunity”, Warriors and National Basketball Association scoring leader Stephen Curry said. “It is what it is, we can do whatever needs to be done”.