Draymond Green Tries To Explain Foul Of James Harden: "He Pinched Me, So I Punched His Wrist"

And now for another entry in the Draymond Green book of natural acts, after a third-quarter squabble with James Harden last night:

“He pinched me, so I punched his wrist. That’s pretty much it. … He does it often, actually. Which is kind of adolescent.”

On its face, it seems like a pretty weak excuse for punching the sore wrist of an opponent, in that it’s hard to imagine a player like Harden consistently and sneakily engaging in the incredibly juvenile behavior of pinching. But a slow-motion replay shows what looks like it might actually in fact be a decently hard pinch on the chest!

Harden has been nursing a weak left wrist since jamming it in a game a few weeks ago, and Green was handed an offensive foul. He told the San Jose Mercury-News after the Warriors’ win that pinching isn’t something he experiences often: “Guys aren’t going around pinching people.” Except, apparently, in this case.