Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green suffered a bloodied right eye after taking an elbow to the face from the Memphis Grizzlies’ Xavier Tillman in Memphis’ Game 2 win on Tuesday night.
Draymond gets elbowed across the face.#NBAPlayoffs #NBA #Green #Elbow pic.twitter.com/cM8DoxBVlb
— Basketball Craze (@bball_craze) May 4, 2022
The incident happened early in the first quarter, just seconds after Memphis’ Dillon Brooks was ejected for committing a Flagrant 2 foul on Golden State’s Gary Payton II, who suffered a fractured elbow on the play (Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said Brooks “broke the code” with the foul).
Green — who was ejected from Game 1 — went to the locker room to get treatment for the injury, and on the way, he flipped the double bird to Grizzlies fans at FedExForum.
Draymond with a message on his way to the locker room. pic.twitter.com/ftIvSS00JE
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) May 4, 2022
The four-time NBA All-Star returned to action in the second quarter after receiving stitches for an eye laceration. He finished the night with six points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists in 32 minutes played.
Draymond Green received stitches for a right eye laceration and has returned to the game.
— Warriors PR (@WarriorsPR) May 4, 2022
Take a look at Draymond Green’s swollen eye pic.twitter.com/lWK2MjSsHN
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) May 4, 2022
After the game, Green told the media that it “felt really good” to flip off Memphis fans.
“It felt really good to flip [the Grizzlies’ fans] off…I’m assuming the cheers was because they know I’ll get fined, great…I make $25M per year I should be just fine.”
🗣 Draymond Green did NOT hold back after Grizzlies booed him post-injury
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 4, 2022
“You’re going to boo somebody who get elbowed in the eye and face running down blood, you should get flipped off. So, I’ll take the fine. I’ll go do an appearance and make up the money. But it felt really good to flip them off. You’re gonna boo someone that gets elbowed in the eye and has blood running out of their face? I could’ve had a concussion or anything. If they’re gonna be that nasty, I can be nasty too. I’m assuming the cheers was because they know I’ll get fined. Great, I make $25 million a year; I should be just fine.”
There will be plenty of storylines and drama entering Game 3 (with the second-round series tied 1-1), which will be on Saturday in San Francisco.
