The Warriors will win even without Draymond Green.
One of Dean Smith’s favorite axioms was that a team that loses a key player will be very dangerous in its first game without that player. Smith believed that a good team bands together to make up for the player’s absence and, in the short run, it could even be a psychological benefit to play short-handed.
The Warriors certainly have the talent to make up for Green, who was suspended from tonight’s game 5 in one of the most controversial rulings in the history of the NBA. Green knew he was one flagrant foul away from suspension, but the foul was instigated by LeBron James, who stepped over the fallen Green on his way up the court. In basketball at that level, such a move is a challenge from one player to another – like undercutting a man in flight.
Green reacted strongly with some physical play but never threw a punch, and the NBA should have let this one be a play-on. Now the league will be bracing for a raucous crowd and fired-up home team when James and the Cavaliers step on the court at the Oracle in Oakland. Golden State has the offensive power to offset Green’s loss in the series clincher, and I think they will shoot lights out to win their second consecutive NBA championship.
With men of that size and strength playing under what is unquestionably looser officiating in the playoffs than the regular season, tempers will flare and trash talk becomes even a bigger part of the game. A flagrant one foul should be, with a doubt, the unchallenged actions of one player, and this was not the case.
James is the NBA’s superstar, the Jordan of his era, and it looks like the league protected him and, perhaps, was looking for the series to play out a full seven games. Even if the Warriors lose tonight and game six in Cleveland, they will win the NBA title in seven. They have the home court advantage with two of the next three on their floor, and the Dubs will find a way to win one more game, in all likelihood with a hot shooting performance in game five…tonight.
