Draymond Green’s watching Game 5 with Bay Area hero Marshawn Lynch
As part of the terms of his suspension for Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals on Monday night, Golden State Warriors power forward Draymond Green is — despite his best efforts — not allowed to be in Oracle Arena to watch his teammates try to close out the Cleveland Cavaliers for the second straight year to defend their title and become back-to-back NBA champions. The All-Star, All-NBA Second Teamer and Defensive Player of the Year runner-up found a pretty solid second option, though, when the Warriors’ fellow Oakland residents, Major League Baseball’s Oakland A’s, invited him to come watch Game 5 at their park, O.co Coliseum, a mere stone’s throw from Oracle:
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Green elected to go with a suite rather than A’s manager Bob Melvin’s tongue-in-cheek offer of watching from the skipper’s office, just as he declined the team’s invitation to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the A’s took on the Texas Rangers.
“He would like to keep a low profile,” A’s spokeswoman Catherine Aker said, according to Janie McCauley of The Associated Press.
Sure, naturally. Plus, getting out on the field before the game means less time in the luxury box, which means less time with your guests … and you’d imagine Draymond wants to get as much time as possible with the dude he’s sharing the suite with tonight:
Draymond Green sighting at the #Athletics game. He’s with Bob Myers and Marshawn Lynch, too. pic.twitter.com/K5HtrAVcye
— Casey Pratt (@CaseyPrattABC7) June 14, 2016
Fans cheering MVP as Draymond comes out of the restroom. Damn, MVP of taking a leak. pic.twitter.com/XLPNmjdqKF
— DeMarcus Davis (@DeMarcusRFNET) June 14, 2016
On one hand, it makes sense; Draymond’s only there because he is, perhaps regrettably, all about that action, boss. On the other, though, it doesn’t; Draymond, after all, is only there because he is getting fined. But then, had he shown up at Oracle, he’d have faced an additional $2,000 penalty, so I guess Draymond is technically at O.co so he won’t get fined? Sports can be confusing sometimes, y’all.
Lynch, the recently retired All-Pro running back who won a Super Bowl ring with the Seattle Seahawks in 2014, is an Oakland native hwo played his college ball at Cal, as well as a full-fledged Bay Area hero. He also literally caused an earthquake once, which one imagines a bona fide noisemaker like Draymond really appreciates.
Lynch also has a personal connection to Draymond. Last June, after Golden State eliminated the Cavaliers to win the 2015 NBA title, Marshawn crashed the Warriors’ championship parade, riding with Green on his double-decker party bus en route to the final celebration:
Later, Lynch walked the “blue carpet” to the event with Green’s mom, the delightful and opinionated Mary Babers-Green, in what wound up being a wonderfully heartfelt and unsurprisingly real interview:
Whether or not Green feels the plays that eventually led to his suspension merited such punishment, you’d have to imagine it’s exceptionally brutal for such a ferocious competitor to find himself unable to impact a closeout game, or even be in the same building as his squad as they go in for the kill. Oh, well. At least he’s around family.
Should the Warriors finish the job on Monday, Green will reportedly be able to rejoin his teammates to celebrate the victory:
We really, really hope he brings the buddy with whom he watched the game.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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