Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green is undoubtedly one of the best defenders of this generation and will go to the Hall of Fame as one of the greatest defensive players ever. But he also will do all of that with a non-matching reputation for being an on-court nuisance, and plays like his Christmas Day foul against the Los Angeles Lakers will be proof of it.
On Christmas, Green got called for a foul for hooking his arms between two Lakers players, Rui Hachimura and Dalton Knecht, on a free throw and dragging them both to floor. It was a ridiculous moment in the game, as Green tried to argue the foul was on one of the two players he leveled. But referee Scott Foster did not budge and counted the foul against Green.
Now, Green explained exactly what he was trying to accomplish with that foul and why he argued it in the first place, via the Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis:
“So in true fashion, my favorite referee [Scott Foster] is on the baseline. On the boxout, they hook their arms in front of me, which you can’t do. It’s illegal. Like they connect and hold each other’s arms. I’m like, ‘Scott! They can’t do this!’ Scott is like, ‘Hey! Unlock arms. You guys can’t do that.’ So, they unlock arms and then they start to move their arms back together. So I look back at Scott, I’m like, ‘Scott!’ He’s like, ‘You can’t do that!’ So, you know me. I think fast. If their arms are connected, if you run into their arms it’s actually a foul on them. So I just alerted Scott twice, he sees that they’re locking arms, so I’m going. I take a little step back, load my run up, and then I just try and take off running into their arms. ‘Scott, you [see] their arms were locked, you aren’t going to blow the whistle?’ So I’m like, ‘Oh, they ain’t blown the whistle yet, I got to do more to get this foul call.'”
Green is an intelligent player, even if he has a reputation about him, so him doing what he did obviously had a reason. But looking back, he knows that he didn’t have much of an argument, as he fouled in the process of trying to get Foster to notice L.A.’s foul first:
“No it was definitely a foul on me, for sure. But it was only a foul on me because he missed the first foul when I ran into their arms.”
The Lakers got the right outcome and a hilarious video from this moment. And they got an important Christmas Day victory on top of all of that.
Lakers’ Austin Reaves discusses retirement plans
Lakers guard Austin Reaves has steadily improved each year he’s been in the NBA, but he appears to be making another leap during the 2024-25 season.
After the Lakers traded away D’Angelo Russell to the Brooklyn Nets, head coach JJ Redick elevated Reaves as the team’s new full-time point guard. Reaves grew up playing point guard and did so in college before being asked to score more to help his teams.
Now, he has a chance to return to his roots and contribute as a playmaker for Los Angeles. So far, the results have been positive, as the Lakers’ offense has shown signs of improvement, and Reaves has looked confident and comfortable in his new role.
While Reaves is approaching his prime years, he already has an idea of what he’d like to do once he retires from the league.
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