LeBron James on Collision With Draymond Green: ‘I’m a Football Player’

Draymond Green’s open field tackle of LeBron James earned him a controversial flagrant foul Monday night, but both competitors shrugged off the collision.

James says his football-playing days prepared him for the moment, while Green argued that it was just a regular foul.

LeBron downplayed the significance of the matchup—the Warriors handed Cleveland a 126-91 humiliation—but Draymond says every time these teams face-off it’s a big deal.

Per the NEOMG:

“I think his shoulder hit me in the face,” James said when asked to describe the play. “It happened so fast, I didn’t even know who it was. I’m a football player.”

 

After laying face down on the Oracle Arena hardwood near half court for a brief moment, James popped up and shrugged it off while walking to the sidelines. […] His teammates, Tristan Thompson and Richard Jefferson, got in Green’s face before Warriors power forward David West intervened, trying to prevent the situation from escalating.

 

Head coach Steve Kerr referred to it as a “normal foul.” Stephen Curry said it didn’t cause him to have flashbacks of Game 4 of the NBA Finals when an on-court skirmish between James and Green led to Green’s Game 5 suspension.