Draymond Green, love him or hate him, is one of the most important players on the Golden State Warriors roster. He might not be their leading scorer, but he directly influences the outcome of games and sometimes even playoff series. Nowhere was that more apparent than last year in the NBA Finals.
When he was suspended for Game Five of the 2016 Finals after he smacked LeBron James in the family jewels, the Cavaliers proceeed to romp their way to a 15-point win in Oakland. In fact, they would be go on to win the series in seven games, giving the city its first NBA championship. Well, in a new ESPN interview, Green took responsibility for the outcome of the series.
The power forward described that time as "one of the most brutal things I've ever had to go through in my life," said Green. "If I played, we win of course, so I do feel it's my fault that we lost. Absolutely my fault." When asked about the specific incident with LeBron, he replied, "he stepped over me. And I had a natural reaction to get him from over me, like you don't step over a grown man," said Green. "It's disrespectful, and if it happened again I would do the same thing. [I] don't feel wrong for what I did at all."
You can watch the clip of Green talking about the incident below.