The Sacramento Kings took a 2-0 series lead over the Golden State Warriors on Monday night, but the game was overshadowed by the stomp heard ’round the world.
The controversial moment, in which Warriors big man Draymond Green stomped on Kings center Domantas Sabonis after a tangle-up beneath the basket, has become the talking point of the NBA world – and many current and former players have come to Green’s defense after the initial backlash.
Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard was one of the people who thought that Sabonis was more at fault than initially thought, as he appeared to pull down on Green’s leg before the stomp.
“Take foul on Sabonis … I didn’t think Dray tried to step down … that’s just how his balance ended up,” Lillard wrote on Twitter, alongside a shrug emoji.
On “Inside the NBA” after the Kings pulled away for a 114-106 win, Shaquille O’Neal – a former NBA big man himself – also came to Green’s defense.
“I’m not gonna sit up here and be a hypocrite. I would have done the same thing,” O’Neal said.
“Don’t be grabbing me, because what am I gonna do? If I stay there and just try to run forward, I’ll fall. You gotta get him up off you. And if you up off me and you in the way, you might get stomped on. Was it a dirty play? Of course it was a dirty play. But, hey, don’t grab me and this won’t happen.”
Shaq was the only member of the TNT crew to defend Green.
Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith all called his actions unacceptable.
The longtime Warriors star, who has been at the center of a number of other controversies throughout his career, attempted to defend himself in a postgame press conference after he was thrown out of the game with a Flagrant 2 foul.
“My leg got grabbed, second time in two nights,” Green said. “Referees just watch it. I gotta 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.”
It remains to be seen if Green will face any additional punishment from the league.
The series now heads to San Francisco with the Warriors trying to recover from a 2-0 deficit.