Why Warriors’ Draymond Green should be suspended for the latest NBA playoffs antics

First, the game. The younger, faster Kings are too much right now for the older, slower, mistake-prone Warriors. Let’s see what happens in the next two games at Golden State’s Chase Center, but the Kings are proving capable of a run into late May and possibly June.

Second, Green. With 7:05 left in the fourth quarter and the Kings leading 91-87, Green stomped on Sabonis’ chest after Sacramento’s Malik Monk missed a shot. Sabonis fell to the court, and as Green tried to run back on offense, Sabonis grabbed Green’s right leg. As Green broke free, he thrust his foot into Sabonis’ chest.

Green should be suspended for Game 3 in San Francisco, and the Warriors – the defending NBA champions – should prepare to play another playoff game without him.

Green was ejected, and Sabonis was issued a technical foul. Green tried pleading his case in-game with referees and after the game with reporters.

“My leg got grabbed, second time in two nights,” he said. “Referees just watch it. I’ve got to land my foot somewhere, and I’m not the most flexible person so it’s not stretching that far. I can only step so far and pulling my leg away, so it is what it is .

“The explanation (from the referee) was I stomped too hard.”

(The two were involved in a minor entanglement late in Game 1 that the NBA said should have been a foul on both players because they prevented each other from disengagement.)

The NBA’s basketball operations department, led by former Detroit Pistons player and longtime team executive Joe Dumars, will investigate the Game 2 incident with video reviews and interviews. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was in attendance and had a prime seat to witness the altercation.

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There will be an argument that Green wouldn’t have done what he did to Sabonis had Sabonis not grabbed Green’s leg.

All that is true.

But not all offenses are equal.

Some deserve more punishment than others, and this is one of them. And tack an additional penalty, such as a fine, onto Sabonis’ action, too. But the league can’t allow what Green did without a one-game suspension.

It’s heated. The games are intense. A player just can’t do what Green did without a more significant penalty.

League officials will take into account Green’s past behavior and that works against him. There’s the kick to Steven Adams’ groin area during the 2016 playoffs, which resulted in a flagrant foul. And the flagrant foul on LeBron James in the 2016 NBA Finals that resulted in a one-game suspension, allowing Cleveland to get back in the series and eventually overcome a 3-1 deficit.

He has been fined multiple times for on-court altercations, and regularly, Green is at or near the top of the list of most technical fouls. Green had 17 technical fouls this season, one behind Memphis’s Dillon Brooks, and Green served a one-game suspension on March 17 for too many Ts.

Green, 33, plays on the edge, and as a second-round pick no one figured would turn into what he has become, Green plays with a specific aggression.

The Warriors love that because it helps make him what he is: an All-Star, Olympic gold medalist, valuable member of four NBA championship teams, 2016-17 defensive player of the year and seven-time All-NBA defensive team selection. He’s headed for his eighth this season.

But the Warriors also get the other side: a player whose actions can result in him missing a game, and in this case, possibly missing one they very much need to win.