The fact that Dieng ended up in the crowd was the problem, not the push itself. Kind of unlucky in that regard. That aside, GG's push was barely more than Dieng's push. And was needed. IMO. You got to have some players with that fire for sure. And hopefully a relatively less important player. If only it was Joe Johnson... lol
There was no reason for Dieng to push Paul like that. I would have been fine with Green throwing a left hook to Dieng's face.
Some of these reactions are overblown. “Knucklehead” is way over the top. I’m not a fan of the push but if the Rockets are preparing all aspects of their game this is certainly an area where the they have shown weakness in the past. These Rockets aren’t pushovers, nor are they thugs or “knuckleheads”. They’re building every aspect of what it takes to be further feared by other teams. I can’t help but wonder if Ryno would have been judged so harshly for something similar.
I loved watching a teammate step up and have CP3's back, and I'm liking Green more every game. Last night he was on fire. Having said all of that, I agree with Clutch. He went too far. Green needs to give a proportional response, not go overboard. Giving the T-Puppies guy a shove might have been OK (I really liked watching GG do it, to be honest), and certainly understandable, in my opinion, but shoving the idiot into fans sitting in those floor seats was not. Green was having a great game, one of his best as a Rocket. You can't play if you get tossed, and I'm not surprised that he got tossed. I just think that Deng should have been tossed, as well.
Spoke to Keith Jones after the game. He gave Green a massage for sticking up for his teammate. #greasykeith
Gerald Green is a fire cracker. Use him conservatively in right moments and he can be a major spark for your team. Use him too much and he's bound to hurt your team. I think D'Antoni realizes this, which is why Green can sometimes come in and play well but still end up playing only around 10 minutes in the game. When he comes in and makes 2-3 three pointers, he has already given you the production that you want from him. I think he'll definitely get minutes in the playoffs though. Those fire cracker moments from Green could spark comebacks if the Rockets have a deficit, but once the Rockets trim the deficit down to a manageable figure, I could see D'Antoni benching Green for the game and letting the core rotation players handle the rest.
Surprised so many ppl are mad & think Green went overboard. Sounds like if this was done anywhere outside of the front row, it would be ok? Always have your teammates back! Clippers locker room Timberwolves front row Green has a career in the WWE.
I understand the sentiment of going overboard from everyone including clutch. The cold truth of the matter, in the heat of the moment our team was “together”. It’s kind of a symbolic notion of how tight they are. Not only did, green immediately stand up for his super star (and rightfully so being the 10-12th man you retaliate for him to prevent cp3 from doing so) but if you rewatch the entire team ran over to protect. Including Ryan who was 2nd on the scene. It was a smart play by cp3. He got under diengs skin on purpose and forced an emotional tech. But green didn’t have the vantage point we do watching on tv. That’s why cp3 immediately jumped up and held green back which is also important. No need getting in further trouble for something not that serious. All in all it was a positive fo the team imo, even if we lost the ft advantage
CP3 paying Green's fine is a sign that the team itself sees this as no big deal. Green didn't kick out a knee or try to injure Dieng, it was a message sent - and received. Hot-headed as Green is, he has a long NBA career and doesn't have a history of this as much as much-lauded Draymond Green.
Not smart at all especially when you consider that he completely ruined cp3's plan. cp3 was out there playing 4d chess and gg comes in with some checker bullshit.
I still love it and think it was good to show that you can't posture over and point at our star player on the ground. It doesn't hurt us now, but it would in the playoffs. Our players do need to learn from it because opponents will be going out of their way to make us lose our cool. The proper response in the playoffs would be to just get up in Dieng's face but not lay hands on him. Then maybe Dieng pushes and gets ejected.
This dude is like every clutchfan.. he is a houstonian through and through and has no tolerance for any BS against one of our best players.. but yeah it sucks he was having a brilliant game though, and MDA could use this as an excuse to put him back at the end of the bench.. back to isoJoe
It's weird that lots of people are criticizing Green for going too far with his shove to Dieng, when I think charging the opponents locker room is far more reckless and unnecessary and our captains were involved with that one. I think his shove to Dieng was totally appropriate and harmless. The only reason Green got ejected was because he pushed Dieng into the stands.
