OAKLAND – Klay Thompson suggested LeBron James can’t handle a little trash-talking.
“I guess his feelings just got hurt,” Thompson said, referring to the incident between James and Green that led to Green’s suspension for Game 5 on Monday (9 p.m. ET, ABC).
That, predictably, didn’t sit well with James, who asked a reporter to repeat what Thompson had said.
James laughed in disbelief.
“Oh, my goodness,” he said. “I’m not going to comment on what Klay said because I know where it can go from this sit-in. It’s so hard to take the high road. I’ve been doing it for 13 years. It’s so hard to continue to do it, and I’m going to do it again.”
Ayesha Curry, the wife of Warriors All-Star guard Steph Curry, got involved, too, tweeting, “High road. Invisible bridge used to step over said person when open floor is available left to right.”
Warriors forward Marreese Speights tweeted a baby bottle emoji.
The fallout from the Green-James incident late in the fourth quarter of Game 4 on Thursday – a play in which James stepped over Green, and Green retaliated by swiping his hand at James twice, connecting once in the groin area – has escalated beyond Green’s suspension.
The drama has reached full-throttle.
This is how the NBA Finals discussion has evolved: What is acceptable trash talk? What is disrespectful actions on the court? Did James bait Green into a committing a flagrant?
To answer the last question first, James said he wasn’t aware of Green’s flagrant foul points total and that one more flagrant foul point would result in an automatic suspension for Green.
A majority of Sunday’s news conference with both teams focused on the first two questions. The conversation stems from that James-Green play. Stepping over a player on the court can be seen as a sign of disrespect.
James said, “I’m not a disrespectful guy. I don’t disrespect anybody. It’s all in competition.”
Green did not speak to reporters Sunday, but Curry said, “Obviously, Draymond thought it was disrespectful and wanted to get up and say something, so that was his reaction to it. I would have probably done the same thing.”
The most famous NBA step-over involved Cavs coach Tyronn Lue, who played for the Los Angeles Lakers, and Allen Iverson, who played for the Philadelphia 76ers, in the 2001 Finals. Iverson made a shot, Lue fell trying to defend the play and Iverson stepped over Lue. It is an NBA moment.
“I didn’t make a big deal of it,” Lue said. “After the game, of course, it was a big deal and everybody was talking about it. But at the end of the day we won, so that’s all that matters to me.”
James also said Green’s comments to him in Game 4 went too far.
“We all know what’s crossing the line no matter if you’re playing basketball or if you’re playing video games or we’re playing catch or you’re double-dutching it,” James said. “I mean, we know what’s crossing the line. We know what words cross the line, male or female. … He crossed the line last game. He felt like I crossed the line. We said what we had to say.”
Trash-talking has been a part of the game at several levels, from the NBA to college to high school to pick-up basketball.
“You’ve got to give it; you’ve got to be able to take it,” Curry said.
Thompson – and Speights’ tweet, if he wasn’t actually feeding an infant – indicated James can’t take it.
“I’m just kind of shocked some guys take it so personal,” Thompson said. “It’s a man’s league, and I’ve heard a lot of bad things on that court. … I don’t know how the man feels. But obviously people have feelings, and people’s feelings get hurt even if they’re called a bad word.”
The Green-James dynamic has another compelling subplot. Green’s contributes to Uninterrupted, which is LeBron James’ multimedia platform for athletes on Bleacher Report.
“We’re in a competitive series right now,” James said, “and I think right now friendship is the last thing we’re thinking about.”
