Draymond Green is on thin ice as Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals approaches tonight.

In what's the most important game of the season to date for the 73-9 Dubs, one of their best players might have to tone down his actions just a bit if he wants to stay on the court.

The NBA's league office decided not to suspend Green for his kick to Steven Adams‘ groin in Game 3, but they did upgrade his flagrant-1 to a flagrant-2.

As I discussed here, Green is now one flagrant-1 foul away from an automatic one-game suspension, per the NBA's playoff guidelines on the matter. A flagrant-2 raises that total to two games.

As a result, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has issued Green a warning.

Kerr earlier during today's shootaround, via Tim Kawakami of Mercury News:

Obviously we accept the league’s ruling. Draymond’s going to have to be very careful–one Flagrant 1, he’s going to be suspended. But this is kind of what we expected. And now we move on.

“Draymond's just … he's gotta understand the circumstances. Which he does, and I'm sure he'll be fine.”

Draymond Green
Ronald Martinez, Getty Images

Perhaps Green can avoid another flagrant against the Thunder, but if Golden State's able to advance to the NBA Finals, what are the chances he doesn't get called for one? His physical, emotional style of play can only be taken down so many notches; it's in Draymond's DNA.

His foul trouble isn't the only problem for Green right now, though. He finished with the worst plus/minus rating in the playoffs since 1997 on Sunday night, at -43. If the Warriors are going to make a comeback in this series, they need Draymond's play to improve immensely.

Maybe this will be good for Green. He can still use his emotions to drive him on the court, but rather than spending so much energy trying to intimidate the opposition, he can solely focus on his own performance and being a good teammate to the rest of the Dubs.

The Warriors sure hope so. Not many teams recover from 3-1 series deficits.

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