The Warriors entered the matchup shorthanded with Stephen Curry ruled out for Game 2 due to a hamstring strain. Now, the task was already an uphill battle for the Golden State, and Draymond Green made it harder, not just for this game. Green has often toed the line of fiery and controversial, with some of his on-court antics and spats resulting in further punishment. Shaquille O’Neal and Chuck slammed Green’s elbow as reckless, echoing Curry’s frustration from the bench.

“You can make contact with him, but, you know, they probably call it, you know, the little flailing. Draymond has that reputation. So even if he wasn’t doing it on purpose, it may look like he was doing it on purpose. That was something like we used to do back in that day,” said O’Neal during the recent broadcast of Inside the NBA. “You want to get close, I’m going to try to draw the foul, and as I’m drawing the foul, I’m touching you up. So from that angle, it looks like, yeah, he’s sending him a message to,’ Hey, get up off of me.'”

Draymond Green received his fifth technical foul of the playoffs after swinging an elbow into Minnesota Timberwolves forward Naz Reid during the second quarter. Green started yelling at the officials and needed Steph Curry, who’s out with a hamstring strain, to help corral him back to the bench before he further escalated. The scoreline at the time was already 33-17 in favor of the Wolves.

With five techs already, Green sits two infractions from an automatic one-game ban per NBA playoff rules. That’s why Charles Barkley had a problem with it. “That was the thing that was probably more disturbing. Number one, that was the flagrant. Anytime you make head contact. But the thing that bothered me the most, like, yo, man, Steph had, like, ‘We already short-handed, and you still are. They called it flagrant. They called it technical. Let it go.‘”

For Green, being in the limelight for his ‘dirty’ fouls is not a new thing. Previously, he has stamped on players, got into a fistfight, and who can forget the chokehold on Rudy Gobert. In fact, Shaquille O’Neal did not criticize that very move.

Previous times when Shaquille O’Neal backed the 4x DPOY

In the 2023 encounter, Wolves faced the Warriors, and a minor scuffle between Klay Thompson and Jaden McDaniels escalated quickly. Gobert only tried to help his teammate, but he had to pay the price. Draymond Green put the Frenchman in a chokehold well over 5 seconds on the live broadcast. This later resulted in a five-game suspension. But Shaquille O’Neal had no issues with the Warriors forward’s behavior for one reason.

“I’m from the old school, so you always stick up for your guys. Like, me and you are doing the interview right now—somebody come put their hands on you, I’m gonna beat them up ’cause you’re my guy,” O’Neal said, per Times staff writer Chuck Schilken. The Lakers legend even added, “I would’ve did the same thing.” This was not the only instance of the Big Aristotle backing Draymond Green.

Less than a month after his debacle with Rudy Gobert, Green was back in the headlines, this time for swinging his arm. He struck Suns C Jusuf Nurkic on the side of the head, since he was previously out for 5 games, this was an indefinite suspension. The ban ultimately lasted 12 games and cost Green more than $1.8 million. Shaquille O’Neal at the time said that if he were the NBA commissioner, Green would only get 2 games.

But the rules state that Green is now thin ice in this year’s playoffs. With the Warriors already without veteran leader Curry on the court, anytime Green misses, it proves to be a boon for the Wolves. Remember the Cavs’ playoff where they came back from 3-1 down. Green missed the crucial Game 5, so will history repeat itself?