The 2016 NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers continues to provide plenty of trash talk, and Mychal Thompson is the latest to take a shot at LeBron James.
Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, Stephen Curry, Kevin Love, LeBron James; everyone is getting in on the childish trash talk during the 2016 NBA Finals. The confrontation escalated in Game 4 as LeBron stepped over Green and the latter unleashed yet another groin shot, calling James a “b****.” In the two days since, the cheap comments off the court have been flying back and forth.
Love seemed to let out a plea to leave Cleveland as he said that stepping over an opponent on the floor can be viewed as disrespect (despite it being the action of his own teammate), Thompson just thinks LeBron “got his feelings hurt,” while James simply tried to laugh it off when questioned about it.
Green will have to leave them all to it on the court in Game 5. He had accumulated four flagrant foul points over the course of the playoffs before the hit on LeBron took him over the edge and triggered a one-game suspension.
Now, as if the trash talk between the players wasn’t enough, Thompson’s father, Mychal, has weighed in to throw some more shots at LeBron.
Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group has reported some of the comments the elder Thompson made on the radio:
After all the taunts, the celebrations before a three even reaches the net, the talk to fans, the comments to the media, and, more than anything, Draymond’s groin shots and wildly dirty leg kicks, the Warriors are one to talk when it comes to disrespect. They dish out plenty themselves, and while LeBron may have a reputation for whining and getting preferential treatment from the league, Draymond deserves to be suspended for his actions throughout these playoffs.
Given the intensity of the dislike between the Cavaliers and Warriors, people are understandably split over who they support. Is LeBron receiving unfair treatment? Are the Warriors out of line with their comments?
At the very least, we can (or should) all be able to agree that Green’s plays have been classless and he deserves some kind of punishment from the NBA.
All we can hope for is that, as the Cavs stand at the brink of elimination down 3-1, they win Game 5 with Green out of the arena and at least make this series competitive again, even if it’s only for one more night.
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