Mike Conley isn’t harboring any hard feelings towards Draymond Green after the Warriors forward hit him in the face during a loose ball scrum in Game 2, mirroring a mutual respect that continues between both teams. Here’s Conley via the San Francisco Chronicle.
“At the end of the day, I think Draymond Green is a phenomenal player,” Conley said before Friday’s practice. “He’s a competitor. In the heat of the game, things happen. Guys get hit. Guys bring a lot of passion to the game. I have no opinion other than that. I think it was just basketball.”
Of course Conley isn’t going to come out, pull a Kevin Love and say it was a dirty play. Maybe he thinks it was, maybe he honestly believes it wasn’t, but Conley’s always been the utmost professional when it comes to incidents like this. In fact, both players are saying and doing the right things in this series. Green said it wasn’t intentional, and he apologized to the Grizzlies after the incident. Even Zach Randloph acknowledged it wasn’t a dirty play.
Zach Randolph to Draymond Green: "You're trying to hurt my guard?" Green: "Nah." Randolph: "He said he ain't do it on purpose."
— Diamond Leung (@diamond83) May 6, 2015
Even though Green and Conley have buried the hatchet, that doesn’t mean Grizzlies fans will be so forgiving. Game 3 is in Memphis Saturday night, and Green isn’t exactly expecting love from the crowd.
“I don’t expect their fans to be happy with me,” Green said. “Their fans don’t jack me up. Their fans weren’t going to be happy with me, regardless.”
What’s great about Green and Conley settling this so quickly is the focus can once more turn to basketball instead of making up feuds. It’s not as if there’s any need to manufacture tensions in this series with the likes of Green, Randolph and Tony Allen on the court. Conley’s non-reaction and Draymond Green’s apologetic display after-the-fact just mirrors the respect both squads feel for one another. This series is heading towards a dogfight, but one that’ll be settled on the court and not in the headlines.
