OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Draymond Green and LeBron James went at it again in the first half of the Cavaliers’ visit to Golden State on Monday.
Their latest confrontation came with 6:55 left in the first half. Golden State led 52-35 when James collided with Green near midcourt, resulting in a flagrant 1 foul on Green. Green’s arm extended across the upper body of James, who went down hard and lay on the court.
“I fouled him to stop the break and he went down, and the aftermath, I told (Cleveland’s Richard Jefferson) to get out of my face, got a technical,” Green explained.
Green reacted by appearing to mock James for flopping .
“Just in the heat of the moment in the game, having some fun, nothing major,” Green said
Yet he wasn’t the only one to sense some embellishment from James.
“Flagrant 1 on Draymond?? What has happened to my league??” Reggie Miller posted on Twitter.
“I think his shoulder hit me in the face, but it happened so fast I didn’t even know who it was,” James said. “I’m all right. I’m a football player.”
Warriors star Stephen Curry called it “two strong forces coming together” and added that “I don’t read much into that at all.”
After a lengthy replay review, a double technical was called on Green and Jefferson.
“Oh, that was nothing,” Kevin Durant said. “Flagrant foul, they shot their free throws, we moved on. Nothing serious.”
But James and Green have a history - and Durant wasn’t there for it, given this is his first season with Golden State after coming from Oklahoma City.
Green was suspended for Game 5 of last season’s NBA Finals after swiping at James’ groin the previous game. The Cavs rallied from 3-1 down to win the title.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr had yet to see the replay from Monday’s run-in.
“Was that an incident? You tell me,” Kerr cracked.
He added that from his view, it looked like “a normal foul where a guy’s in transition and you want to foul him and take away the fast break. Obviously he went down hard and sold it pretty well.
“When I look at the replay I might think, ’Oh yeah, that was definitely a flagrant.’ But I haven’t seen it, so it’s tough to assess.”
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