Draymond Green called Cavs fans 'just rude' after they heckled his mother at Game 3
Excessively unruly fans are an unfortunate feature of every professional sports fan base. They are not exclusive to any one city or any one team. With that being said, fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers have made their way into the spotlight for the wrong reasons — and it’s not the first time they’ve done so.
Shortly after the conclusion of Game 3 of this year’s NBA Finals, which saw the Golden State Warriors stage a dramatic comeback to take a 3-0 lead in the series, at least one Cavs fan got into an altercation with Mary Babers, the mother of Dubs forward Draymond Green:
Draymond Green's mom getting confronted by Cavs fan. This is pathetic.
— NBA SKITS (@NBA_Skits) June 8, 2017
The videos show policemen getting involved. The altercation appeared to get physical only when others stepped in between Babers and the Cavs fan. Babers was held back as two male fans shoved each other.
The following morning, Babers tweeted that “Everyone apologized so it’s all good!”
Draymond responded to the whole situation on Thursday at media availability in a remarkably calm manner. “Yeah, they’re fine,” he said of his family. But he couldn’t resist a subtle shot at Cleveland fans. “It happens every year. Fans here are just rude.”
Draymond on his mother being heckled: "Fans here are just rude." pic.twitter.com/GJrWt9OF1d
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) June 8, 2017
“My mom can hold her own, though,” Green continued. “She’s good.”
Draymond is certainly right about that last part. His mother is not one to back down from confrontation, or to watch a game without speaking her mind. She is notoriously active on Twitter, so much so that Draymond has apparently urged her to scale back or even delete her account because she has “no chill.”
The pleas for restraint have evidently fallen on deaf ears, though. Here’s a sampling of Babers’ tweets and retweets during Wednesday night’s game:
That was all BALL! Bull bull bull ????
— GreenMile (@BabersGreen) June 8, 2017
Tech-they been waiting to do that…WHERE WAS THE TECH & WHAT FOR?
— GreenMile (@BabersGreen) June 8, 2017
I wonder will this be DISCUSSED! Is that NATURAL? @NBA https://t.co/xBG5Cd421G
— GreenMile (@BabersGreen) June 8, 2017
LeBron is one of the highest-paid actors in the world ????
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) June 8, 2017
— Treymond Green (@TreymondGreen) June 8, 2017
That probably gives you a decent idea of what she’s like during a game, just a few rows back from the court.
Of course, nothing Babers yelled, said or tweeted during the game excuses the arguments and scuffles that occurred afterward. But after such a heated game and dramatic ending, emotions were understandably heightened.
As for Draymond and the Warriors, this just underscores their desire to close out the series and their second title in three years on Friday night in Game 4. When asked about the prospect of celebrating on Cleveland’s home floor, Green said “it will be very satisfying.”
“As an athlete, one of the best feelings is going into enemy territory and just silencing their crowd,” he said. “So it would be a great feeling” — and surely an even sweeter one given the history with this particular set of fans in Cleveland.
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