Sunday night (May 22), the Oklahoma City Thunder had an impressive win against the Golden State Warriors in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals (133-105). Aside from some great shots and killer handles, something else during the game made headlines- the Warriors’ Draymond Green kicking OKC’s Steven Adams where the sun doesn’t shine.
Draymond Green with the kick to Steven Adams’ groin. 😳https://t.co/K1j0iKG2si
— NBA SKITS (@NBA_Skits) May 23, 2016
Naturally, Twitter was ablaze with memes poking fun at the moment, which was assessed as a Flagrant 1 foul. Some of the players on the court had some thoughts about it.
Steph Curry said he felt the kick was inadvertent, and there was “no intent” to hurt Adams, while Russell Westbrook says he feels the kick was meant to cause harm.
“That’s two times in the last two games,” he said during a press conference. The Warriors’ head coach Steve Kerr is also standing by his player, stating that “this stuff happens all the time.”
Green himself said during a press conference he did not hit Adams in the unmentionables on purpose. “I’m sure he’d want to have kids one day,” he noted. “I’m not trying to end that on the basketball court. That don’t make sense. I was following through on my shot and my leg went up.”
Steven Adams said Green is “pretty accurate” in regards to where his leg decides to go, seemingly hinting he believes the kick was intentional. This is the second time Adams has been kicked in the groin by Green during the conference; the first time was during Game 2.
So what does this mean for the power forward? It’s been reported the league is looking at the options of having Green pay a small fine for the kick or having him sit out during Game 4 on Tuesday, May 24. Only time will tell.