An alternative angle that wasn’t shown on the national broadcast makes the incident where Draymond Green stomped on Domantas Sabonis look like an even dirtier play.
On Monday night, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green was ejected in the fourth quarter of Game 2 against the Sacramento Kings after he stepped forcefully on Domantas Sabonis.
Green explained that Sabonis grabbed his leg and was unable to move it, and Sabonis — who had taken bumps and scrapes all night long — suggested that he felt like it was a normal playoff play.
In the end, Sabonis was given a foul, and Green was given a flagrant 2 foul, which resulted in his immediate ejection.
The TNT broadcast showed a relatively mild replay of the incident that did show Green’s foot was encumbered by Sabonis “grabbing” at it. But angles shown on NBC Sports paint a slightly different picture.
Fresh angle of the incident paints Draymond Green in a bad light
Here’s what showed on NBC Sports:
Here, we can see that Sabonis “grabbing” at Green’s leg was somewhat incidental, his arms appear to move up as he hits the floor to reflexively protect his head, not to make an intentional grab at Green’s ankle. Regardless, Sabonis was given a foul.
This angle also shows the impact of his foot on Sabonis’s torso a bit more clearly, and that part is tough to watch. It’s hard to believe Sabonis walked away without any rib or lung damage, though X-rays returned with positive signs, per Adrian Wojnarowski.
From the angle in the video above, you can also really see Green take almost a wind-up with his foot. He would argue he had to pull up hard to get his foot free, but it looks as though his foot slam was intentional.
In the end, some stood behind Draymond, like Shaq, but lots of others saw it from the league’s perspective. For now, Green’s punishment is just his ejection in Game 2, but there’s a possibility he gets suspended if the league decides to investigate further.
Ironically, this angle was only available because for the first round of the playoffs, games are broadcast on national feeds (ABC, ESPN, or TNT) and also available on local affiliates as well. This angle was available from NBC Sports local broadcast of the game, but didn’t show on TNT.