Draymond Green to keep being 'who I am' despite suspension

SAN FRANCISCO — Draymond Green being forced to watch his team play a playoff game from afar isn't new to him.

He had to do it in 2016 as the Golden State Warriors played Game 6 of the NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He watched that game from the Oakland Coliseum just across the parking lot from the Warriors arena.

On Thursday during Game 3 of the Warriors' first-round series against the Sacramento Kings, he watched from his home in San Francisco.

But despite missing two pivotal games due to suspension, Green doesn't plan on changing his antics any time soon.

«They created a Draymond rule before, that s--- don't work. I'm still sitting here,» Green said after practice on Saturday. «Draymond won't be moved by the Draymond rule. I'll continue to play the game how I play the game, operate how I operate, be exactly who I am because that leads to winning. If I was losing, they wouldn't be creating Draymond rules. As long as they create Draymond rules, that means we're winning and that's great… but it doesn't change Draymond.»

Green's suspension stemmed from him stomping on the chest of Sacramento's Domantas Sabonis and his behavior afterward — egging on the crowd and not being apologetic afterward. NBA executive vice president and head of basketball operations Joe Dumars also said that Green's history as «a repeat offender» factored into the decision to suspend him.

Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers said the league is setting a «very dangerous precedent» with the suspension — allowing teams to bait star players into retaliatory fouls.

«If we're going to start punishing the retaliators, and not the instigators, then we've got a problem in this league,» Rivers said Friday. «I think the league is setting up a very