Warriors forward Drummond Green recently spoke about his fifth game of the 2016 Finals. He said that if he hadn't been banned, he would have been the Finals MVP. And if he gets the MVP of the finals, he can be selected as one of the 75 superstars in history.
"What bothered me was that I was supposed to be the MVP of the Finals, but that (suspension) completely changed the story behind me." Green said.
"If I were the Finals MVP, they wouldn't exclude me from the 75 superstars unless I'm unlucky."
Green was suspended for Game 5 of the 2016 Finals after he hit James in groin in Game 4. At that time, Green and James had a fierce physical confrontation, Green fell to the ground, James stepped over Green, and an angry Green pushed James away and had the action of hitting James's groin. Green's move was escalated to a first-degree malicious foul, and he was banned for his fourth malicious foul in the playoffs, making him the first player to be suspended in the Finals after Starkhouse in 2006.
In Game 5 of Green's ban, the Cavaliers, who were 1-3 behind on aggregate, beat the Warriors to make it 2-3. In Game 6, Green returned, but scored only 8 points on 3-of-7 shooting, and the Warriors lost to the Cavaliers 101-115, and the total score came to 3-3. In the seventh game, Green blasted 32 points, 15 rebounds and 9 assists to perform very well, but the Warriors eventually lost to the Cavaliers 89-93.
In this series, Green averaged 16.5 points, 10.3 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game, which is not a prominent statistic, but it is not worse than Curry (22.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game) and Thompson (19.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3 assists per game). Moreover, Green's shooting percentage is 48.6%, which is higher than Curry (40.3%) and Thompson (42.7%). In addition, Green's average plus-minus per game in the Finals was +3.8, with Curry and Thompson both negative.
If Green hadn't been banned for Game 5, the Warriors might not have lost Game 5, or maybe not been reversed three times in a row, because in the series, a change in one link is likely to change the entire series. But at the same time, Green can't guarantee that he will play Game 5 and the Warriors will definitely win the championship. He could only win the Finals MVP when the Warriors won, and it was in game seven when Green blasted out the super stats. After all, in the first 6 games of the series, his performance was not outstanding.
As for what Green said, if he gets the Finals MVP, he can make it to the 75 superstars, which looks like it may be his wishful thinking. After all, there are more stars who have lost the 75 superstars, and many people's honors and personal performances are better or worse than Green's, but they have also failed.