The Cavaliers Plea For A Two Game Suspension For Draymond Green Makes All The Sense In The World

LBS-  The Cleveland Cavaliers had a much easier time against the Golden State Warriors in Game 5 with Draymond Green sitting out, so it comes as no surprise that they were hoping the situation would be the same for Game 6.

ESPN’s Zach Lowe said on his podcast this week that the Cavs pushed to have Green suspended for Game 5 and Game 6 after he hit LeBron James in the groin during Game 4.

“The Cavs wanted him suspended for two games,” Lowe said. “I can tell you that. They wanted it to be a flagrant 2 and to have him suspended for Game 5 and Game 6.”



​You can say that the Cavaliers requesting that Draymond Green be suspended for two games retroactively makes them appear desperate. It does. You can say that it was a ludicrous proposal considering he wasn't even suspended for one game following an act that was far worse. It was. What you can't say is that it was a dumb negotiating tactic. 

Come hell or high water, Cleveland NEEDED Draymond to be sitting on the bench for Game 5 in his own building. Even now - following a performance in which LeBron James and Kyrie Irving set the nets on fire - you can make the argument that the Warriors potentially would have won had their most versatile defender and jack-of-all-trades offensive lynchpin had been available to them. That's why LeBron stepped over Draymond when there was about 35 different paths he could have taken back towards the play that didn't require him to rub his nut sac on an opponent's head.  That's why LeBron acted like he walked in on Delonte West going down on his mother when he was simply called a "bitch". And it's damn sure why the Cleveland Cavaliers asked for an unprecedented two game suspension during the NBA Finals. All of those things were merely done to make sure that - at the very least - Draymond Green would not be playing in Golden State.

Anyone that is being critical of this move by the Cleveland Cavaliers should take a little walk back down memory lane to their freshman psychology class. Scroll back through those notes and try to a find a little thing called the  'door in the face' technique. The gist is that you make an irrational demand that stands next to no chance of being agreed upon and it makes the other party that much more likely to agree to a slightly lesser demand. If I were the Cavaliers I would have asked for Draymond Green to get the electric chair. I would asked the league to have his right foot - that has become the sworn enemy of every testicle in the NBA - to be amputated. Not because he deserved it, but solely because it would ensure his absence in my team's elimination game on the road. Just because it comes across preposterously desperate doesn't mean it wasn't exceedingly smart.