Draymond's Lament; Kuminga's Revival; A Sports Pope

Draymond Green is a great basketball player.

One of the best defensive players in the NBA since Bill Russell.

He's been the driving defensive force for the Warriors' four NBA championships, providing the ying to Steph Curry's yang.

But he occasionally—if not often—crosses the line. In Green's mind, he never commits a foul. He's on the officials, all night. Complaining and arguing. He's also trash talking, bumping and getting in the face of his opponents. All night.

Among the lowlights over the years are a five-game ban for a headlock on Rudy Gobert, a one-game suspension in the 2023 playoff for stomping on Damantas Sabonis' chest, and a one-game suspension for too many flagrant fouls, including kicking LeBron James in the groin, that cost the Warriors the NBA championship when they were up 3-1 in 2016.

On Thursday night, Green lost it when he flailed his arms after being fouled by the Timberwolves' Naz Reid. Green struck Reid in the face, which was deemed unnecessary by lead official Tony Brothers.

That resulted in a technical foul, but it could've easily been a flagrant one.

Instead of being grateful he escaped with just a technical, Green went ballistic, and had to be restrained by teammates Steph Curry (who was not even in uniform) and Jimmy Butler, before head coach Steve Kerr subbed him out.

Green now has five technicals in the playoffs. Another two, and he will be suspended for a game.

In the press conference afterwards, Draymond got on his soap box and said he was "tired of the agenda to make me look like an angry Black man."

"I'm not an angry Black man, I'm a very successful, educated Black man with a great family," Green said. "And I'm great at basketball. I'm great at what I do. The agenda trying to make me look like an angry Black man is crazy. I'm sick of it; It's ridiculous."

Whose agenda, Draymond?

To be clear, Green has been the subject of racist taunts from fans for many years; in fact, one spectator had to be removed from the arena in Minnesota.

But the officials have put up with his rage and his nonsense for more than a decade.

As for Tony Brothers, he is the best official in the NBA. He's also a Black man.

There's no agenda here. No one is out to get you or make you look bad, Draymond. You're doing it to yourself.

Bottom Line: The only person who is making Draymond Green look like an angry Black man is Draymond Green. 

Kuminga's Revival: The knock on Jonathan Kuminga when he fell out of the Warriors rotation was that he and Jimmy Butler weren't a good fit together, that when Butler arrived he marginalized Kuminga (at least in Steve Kerr's mind) and absorbed his minutes.

That rationale was exposed as fraudulent Saturday night when, in a valiant effort without Steph Curry, Kuminga had 30 points and Butler 33 in a tough 102-97 loss to Minnesota.

"Like I tell everybody, me and him can thrive together," Butler said afterward.

We're among those who believe Kuminga will be a star in the NBA, either for Golden State or somewhere else, in the near future. We also believe he never should've been pulled from the rotation.

On Saturday, the Warriors led by five late with eight minutes to go, but Butler ran out of gas and didn't score the rest of the way. And a defense that had played brilliantly for 3+ quarters suddenly couldn't stop Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle.

Draymond Green, perhaps still in a funk from Thursday night, had fouled out, with a desultory stat line of two points, two rebounds, five turnovers, six fouls and three assists.

The Warriors will need a better performance from Green and similar production from Butler and Kuminga to have a chance in Game 4 tonight. 

But they'll also need some help from Brandin Podziemski, who suddenly has gone cold. Podziemski has scored only 19 points in the three games with Minnesota, shooting 6 for 26 from the field, including one for 10 Saturday.

The Sports Pope: As a Catholic and former altar boy, I think it's very cool that our new Pope Leo XIV, the first American Pope, is a sports fan.

Pope Leo graduated from Villanova, is a huge hoops guy, follows his alma mater and the Nova New York Knicks (with Villanova grads Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges), and the Chicago White Sox.

News of the Pope’s basketball allegiance reached Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, who quipped about the ex-Nova players on his team: “Now they can be forgiven for their sins.”

Amen.