Are Draymond Green and Tristan Thompson finally bringing back real hatred to the NBA even after the Cleveland Cavaliers-GS Warriors rivalry is over?
It’s no secret. The NBA has gotten soft in recent years. We spend ninety percent of the pregame watching players high-five each other, and the other ten percent wondering why players don’t share our dislike of the opposing team.
It wasn’t too long ago that players like Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant would spend entire games destroying other players self-esteem.
Bill Laimbeer made a career out of attempting to decapitate anyone coming down the lane. Kevin Garnett would make you regret ever picking up a basketball. And Ron Artest just made you feel, well, uncomfortable.
It’s a product of our interconnected culture that athletes can meet up with one another with ease and communicate easily back and forth.
Pair that with the fact that most NBA players were child prodigies who attended the same basketball camps and AAU circuits and are also literally the only people on the planet who get paid millions of dollars to play sports, and you get a common ground among many athletes.
Disputes as a whole have very much stayed on the court or escalated very boringly on Twitter.
Every once in a while, fans will be treated to a fight on the court. Players will get fired up, get in each other’s faces – only to get three technicals, thousand dollar fines, and then immediately apologize to each other.
A fight at the end of Game 1 of the NBA finals had all the classic makings of a modern NBA fight. Draymond Green, who by no means has ever rubbed anyone the right way, was taunting Tristan Thompson, who had just been ejected for having arms.
Tristan reacted by pulling out his best “Patches O’Houlihan” impression and shoved the ball into Draymond’s face. A fight ensued and all players involved got techs
Finally, after the series, when everything had calmed down, Thompson went to apologize to Green. Suffice it to say, the apology didn’t go well.
Finally, after many months had passed and all bruised egos had been assuaged, Draymond decided to be “cut from the same cloth” and apologize to Thompson at an ESPYs after party. Reportedly, this went slightly worse than Thompson’s post series apology.
Apparently, Thompson took up Draymond’s offer to “meet him in the streets” and punched him. And while we definitely do NOT condone violence, most Cavs would agree to the punchability of Draymond Green’s face.
Additionally, because it’s Cleveland, there is now a parade to honor said punch, which is hilarious.
Are we finally seeing a return of dislike in the NBA? Unlikely.
Will Cavs fans actually come to a parade to honor Draymond Green getting punched in the face?
Most definitely.