NBA Legend Comes To Draymond Green's Defense After Stomping Domantas Sabonis

The Golden State Warriors find themselves in a 2-0 hole for the first time during the Stephen Curry era after being beaten down by the Sacramento Kings 114-106, but the one that made most headlines was that of Draymond Green stomping into Domantas Sabonis' body.

In the aftermath of the game, Green defended his action that led to an ejection.

"My leg got grabbed, second time in two nights. The referees were just watching. I gotta land my foot somewhere. I'm not the most flexible person so [my leg] is not stretching that far. I could only step so far while pulling my leg away. It is what it is," Green told the media.

The Inside the NBA crew of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal tried to make sense of the situation with an incredulous Johnson, stating that while Green was being grabbed by Sabonis, it was how Green reacted that caused the flagrant two penalty call.

As for O'Neal, he believes Green was justified in his actions.

"Actually, you can. One bad play begets another. I'm not gonna sit here and be a hypocrite; I would've done the same thing. I really would. Don't be grabbing me because what am I gonna do? If I just stay there and run for it, I'll just fall." O'Neal stated.

"Was it a dirty play? Of course, it was a dirty play. If you don't grab me, this won't happen."

Smith did acquiesce that Sabonis grabbing Green's leg was egregious enough on its own, however, he did go on to state that Green's response was simply overdoing it.

As to how Sabonis ended up on the deck, he came crashing to the floor while getting entangled with Klay Thompson under the paint and attempted to protect his head from the limbs around him and it led up to him grabbing onto Draymond Green's leg.

The Warriors star certainly did not appreciate being held on to and as he sought to free himself from the grasp of Sabonis, he planted his foot into the Lithuanian's ribs and used it as a trampoline of sorts to get out of the predicament.

While Green's actions would be somewhat forgiven had Sabonis held on even longer to his leg, the fact of the matter was that Sabonis had already let go of Green's leg prior to getting stomped on.

Kings fans inside the Golden 1 Center immediately showered Green with boos and as referees were assessing the situation on the monitors, he was caught on camera egging on the crowd behind the Warriors bench as security and some other fans were hoping to prevent an escalation.

Outside of Sabonis being dealt a technical foul for his ankle grab, attention immediately returned to the game as the Kings cruised to a Game 2 victory with the next one taking place on their home floor on Thursday, April 20 at 10:00 PM ET.

Following the game, Sabonis was reportedly getting X-rays done on his ribs and lungs to check for any potential damages and was found to have no issues.