James loses his cool as Cavaliers pushed to the brink

James, given a technical foul for a physical taunt in the altercation, denied the notion he tried to entice a flagrant foul knowing Green would be suspended.

If Steve Kerr is going to put his best five players (of this series) on the floor, it’s probably a lineup of Curry, Klay Thompson, Livingston, Iguodala and Barnes.

On the idea of LeBron baiting Draymond, this was because James is aware of the “point system” that the National Basketball Association implements and Green is one flagrant foul away from a suspension.

James, despite repeated drives to the basket, has gotten to the foul line just 17 times in the four games of the Finals.

But Green, whose Warriors lead the series against the Cavaliers, 3-1, can join the celebration if Golden State wins to clinch its second-consecutive National Basketball Association championship.

Elite Defender: Green obviously offers a defensive force, being voted second the past two years as the league’s Defensive Player of the Year and rightfully so. “We got back to who we are as a team”. Instead, Golden State got in some verbal jabs ahead of the game and provoked James to respond not only in his time with the microphone but on the court as well.

Green called Friday’s incident “stuff that’s said on the court”.

But even though the Warriors seemed to have found their mojo and are heading to the comforts of home, where they lost just three games all season, they are not getting ahead of themselves. They started jawing and then Green called James the feminine adjective for dog. “Because Draymond plays with fire, and that’s what we love about him”.

If it is ruled Green punched James, he can be suspended for a game per National Basketball Association rules. Being a guy with pride, a guy with three kids and a family and things of that nature, some things just get overboard and that’s where he took it. Yet James considered it all inappropriate and said he and his teammates reviewed the sequence on video. “But some people don’t live by that code”.

The Warriors learned of the suspension late in practice on Sunday, and Green wasn’t made available to the media.

“I don’t know how the man feels”, Thompson said of James. But obviously people have feelings and people’s feelings get hurt even if they’re called a bad word. In the second half – when the game got away from Cleveland – it was all James and Irving. It’s a man’s league, and I’ve heard a lot of bad things on that court, but at the end of the day it stays on the court.”There also was a tweet from Ayesha (wife of Steph) Curry about James”. “I’m just kind of shocked some guys take it so personal”.

If Green is suspended, he is not allowed in the arena for Game 5.

“His defense, rebounding, intensity, and just his emotional impact on the game, nobody can make up for what Draymond does individually, but we’ve got to do it collectively”.

Gilbert gave a wide-ranging interview to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne for ESPN the Magazine’s June 27 issue, and as part of it, he revealed that he still loses sleep over the fact that he passed on the Warriors star. “I’m all cool with the competition”, James said. “I don’t think his intention was to try to hurt anybody. With guys like that, you can’t keep them down forever”.

Green is right and wrong.

“And Step had 46 points that night”, Kerr said.

This is how the NBA Finals discussion has evolved: What is acceptable trash talk?