Draymond Green ejected after hard step to Domantas Sabonis’ chest

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In 28 playoff series together, there aren’t many firsts left for this Golden State Warriors group. Coming into the 2023 postseason, they had never trailed 0-2 in a series. In fact, the Warriors hadn’t dropped their first two games of a playoff series since the 2007 Western Conference semifinals.

That all changed Monday night, with a 114-106 win by the Sacramento Kings that left Golden State staring down an 0-2 series deficit in the first round.

Monday’s game unraveled in waves for the Warriors — missed open layups, being outmatched physically, struggling to take care of the ball — issues they have faced all season. It culminated with Draymond Green being ejected with 7:03 remaining in the fourth quarter after stomping on the chest of Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis.

After Stephen Curry grabbed a defensive rebound and turned to head up the floor, Sabonis slipped and fell in the paint. He grabbed onto Green’s leg, and after Green initially shook off Sabonis’ grip, he took a hard step right on Sabonis’ chest.

Sabonis stayed down for a few minutes as officials reviewed the play. He was called for a technical foul for grabbing Green’s leg, and Green was given a flagrant foul 2 that led to an automatic ejection.

“When I fell, I was protecting myself, and then the incident happened,” Sabonis said. “There is no room for that in our game today.”

Sabonis underwent X-rays on his sternum that came back negative, and he appears to have avoided injury, a source told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. He will undergo additional testing on Tuesday as a precaution.

Green, in explaining his side of the incident, said, “My leg got grabbed — the second time in two nights — and the referee is just watching. I got to land my foot somewhere, and I’m not the most flexible person, so it’s not stretching that far. … I can only step so far with someone pulling my leg away.”

The first time Green’s leg was held, he said, was in Game 1, by Kings guard Malik Monk.

“I guess ankle grabbing is OK,” Green said Monday.

“What are you going to do when someone grabs your foot when you’re running full speed?” Warriors guard Klay Thompson asked rhetorically. “That’s not cool. I’m not saying what Draymond did was right, but you can’t just grab somebody’s foot taking off in a full sprint.”

Kings coach Mike Brown said he was “curious” about what would happen when the league reviews the incident. The question now becomes whether the play warrants any additional suspension or punishment.

During the in-game review, the fans in Sacramento yelled derogatory chants toward Green, who egged them on by waving his hands, holding a hand to his ear calling for louder jeers and standing on a chair with a towel wrapped around his shoulders.

This isn’t the first playoff infraction for Green, who…