Draymond Green frustrated he would have been fined for swearing back at Celtics fans during Finals
BOSTON -- Draymond Green and Celtics fans had a pretty good war of (naughty) words going during the NBA Finals, though it was mostly Boston fans who got to do most of the cursing. Green would have loved to have thrown a few four-letter words their way during games, but he wasn't willing to pay the hefty price that such an interaction would cost him.
Appearing on "The Daily Show" on Monday night, Green expressed his frustration that he had to keep his cool -- and his mouth shut -- as some unflattering chants rained down on him at TD Garden during the Finals. Otherwise, Adam Silver would have hit him with a big fine.
"I used to feel like fans should be stopped from saying some of the things that they say," the Warriors forward told Trevor Noah. "Then, commissioner Silver comes out and says, 'Hey, those Boston fans are great' as they're saying, '[Expletive] you, Draymond.'
"The commissioner is the best commissioner, and like I said in my Tweet, he's probably one of the best CEOs in America, let alone the commissioner of a sports league. But he's like, 'Oh, that's great.' So my response to that is, 'Great. Cool. Can I turn and yell, '[Expletive] them'?' Because if I can, then no problem. Let them yell what they want to yell, I yell what I want to yell and I continue down the court," he said.
"I think the thing for me is that at some point, you're kind of allowing them to do this and encouraging it in a way," Green continued. "Because they know if I yell to Draymond and he says that back to me, he's getting fined $25,000. He's getting fined $50,000. So what I was saying to the Comish was, 'No problem. That was fun. Let them do their thing -- but let me do my thing and don't hit my pocketbook.'"
While Green was mostly OK with the reception that he received from Celtics fans, Golden State head coach Steve Kerr and Warriors forward Klay Thompson both admonished Boston fans for their cursing, sarcastically calling the fandom classy. (They neglected to mention that Green threw out a curse in front of his young son following Game 3 in Boston.)
Green and the Warriors had the last laugh in it all, as they clinched and celebrated their fourth NBA title in the last eight years on Boston's home floor.