By: Jamal Smith
Sports Editor

Never has a kick to the family jewels been more scrutinized than Draymond Green’s karate kick to the midsection of seven-footer Steven Adams.

The incident occurred in the middle of the second quarter in game three of the Western Conference Finals when Green, a third-year power forward with the Golden State Warriors, drove to the hoop to put up a shot but was met by Adams. In an attempt to draw a foul call, Green flailed his leg out and blasted Adams in the groin. The Oklahoma City center collapsed to the ground in pain, and Green walked away as if nothing happened.

Green was assessed a flagrant foul but the punishment was later upgraded to a flagrant two by NBA officials. Although Green was fined $25,000 for the play, he avoided a suspension that would have kept him out of the next game of the playoff series.
The kick led many sports analysis to debate whether Green kicked Adams on accident or on purpose.

Adams alluded to the fact that Green’s kick could have been intentional. “It’s happened before, mate,” Adams said in the post-game interview following the Thunders 133-105 beat down of the defending NBA champions. “He’s pretty accurate, that guy. It was straight to the jewels, you don’t think about any of that stuff. Yeah, it was rough.”

Green openly denied any wrongdoing. “I thought it would probably get rescinded,” he said in a post-game interview. “I followed through on a shot. I didn’t try to kick somebody in the midsection. I’m sure he wants to have kids one day. I’m not trying to end that on the basketball court.”

Whether or not Green had malicious intent when he booted Adams in the groin doesn’t justify his insensitive reaction. At the very least, Green should have apologized for the low blow. Instead he chose to play innocent, and even diverted the blame to Thunder point guard, Russell Westbrook, claiming he was one of the originators of flopping. One thing is for certain, opposing players better be cautious when going up against Green, at least if they don’t want to get scissor kicked in the family jewels.

Contact the author at jsmith15@wou.edu or on Twitter @journalsportWOU