On Monday night, the Golden State Warriors defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in a thrilling Game 7 of the Western Conference finals, earning the Warriors a rematch with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.
The game had everything — dazzling shots by Steph Curry in victory, a gritty performance by Durant in defeat, and a complete failure to execute the NBA’s concussion protocol at the halfway mark. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the latter is getting a lot less attention than the former.
Late in the second quarter, Kevin Durant took a mid-range jump shot that extended the Thunder’s lead to 11. Warriors power forward Draymond Green got tangled up with Thunder center Steven Adams during the play, and Green pulled Adams to the ground with him as lost his balance. Green seemed to hit his head on the court, and then Adams fell right on top of his head.
Adams jumped right up, but Green remained on the ground, clutching the top of his head and writhing around in obvious pain. He didn’t stand up for nearly a minute, while the referees conferenced to see if there was a foul on the play. Eventually a double foul was called, placing blame on both Adams and Green for the entanglement, but on television, no team doctor was shown coming to Green’s side during this time, and he was not taken out of the game for even a possession.
The Warriors did not respond to a request for a comment about the incident, and an NBA representative pointed ThinkProgress to the NBA’s concussion program summary, which lays out the protocol for evaluating a concussion:
Concussion Evaluation. If a player is suspected of having a concussion, or exhibits the signs or symptoms of concussion, he will be removed from participation and undergo evaluation by the medical staff in a quiet, distraction-free environment conducive to conducting a neurological evaluation.
Serial Evaluation. If a player undergoes a concussion evaluation and is not diagnosed with a concussion, the team’s medical staff will continue to monitor the player, and the player will undergo at least another concussion evaluation by the medical staff prior to the team’s next game or practice or approximately 24 hours after the initial concussion evaluation (whichever is first).
But the problem in this case isn’t what the league’s guidelines are, it’s how they are implemented and whether or not there is any punishment from the league if there’s a clear failure to follow the protocol. There was no evidence during the broadcast that Green was evaluated at all after his fall, and while it’s certainly possible that Green was evaluated at halftime and cleared for play, there is no way of knowing since that information has not been made public. But even if Green was examined in the locker room, that would still be a breach of protocol since he wasn’t taken out of the game immediately even after showcasing signs that his head had been injured.
Viewers, including NFL player Anthony Levine, found it alarming that Green stayed in the game without examination.
@NBA has no concussion protocol huh
— Anthony Levine (@ALevine41) May 31, 2016
https://twitter.com/Lahlahlindsey/status/737463492123451393
Is Draymond getting a concussion check right now? Because he might need one.
— Pat Forde (@YahooForde) May 31, 2016
Green is an extremely physical player, and had been getting into tussles with Adams throughout the series — one in which led to a fine by the league and had people calling for Green’s suspension. But according to experts, he should have been treated like any other player after he hit his head and clutched it in pain.
“Essentially if there is any doubt that there is a concussion medically we should evaluate the athlete in the locker room away from the hustle of the field, fans, and stadium,” Dr. Jessica Schwartz, a physical therapist, told ThinkProgress. “Professionally, [Green] looked dazed, held on to his head and had some [neck rotations] which were mindful of the brainstem with those types of injuries. I would’ve taken him to the back.”
Schwartz says that it’s key for doctors to remain unbiased and vigilant when it comes to removing athletes from play, particularly since concussion symptoms often don’t show up for hours or even days after the injury. Still, she says that in the heat of playoff games, it’s incredibly difficult to intervene.
“The question we should all ask ourselves — if that was Steph Curry, would we have taken him out with six seconds on the clock in Game 7? No one trains us for that no matter what degree you have.”
This is not a new problem for the NBA. While basketball isn’t a contact sport in the same way that football or hockey is, it doesn’t mean concussions don’t occur. While the NBA officially created guidelines for dealing with concussions back in 2011, the procedures have often been criticized. Two years ago, Tom Ziller of SB Nation wrote that the league’s concussion policy “might as well not even exist, because no one heeds it.”
Last year, two incidents (both involving the Warriors in the playoffs) caused Michele Roberts, the president of the NBA Player’s Association, to investigate the league’s concussion protocols, and consider whether players should be kept out of games longer.
“To say it happens so rarely or doesn’t happen frequently enough to change the rules is not enough,” she said. “We’re talking potentially about someone’s life. I don’t think we should play an odds game when it comes to a player’s life.”
The NBPA did not return a request for comment about the Green incident or the NBA’s concussion protocols. Green is scheduled to play on Thursday in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Update:
The Warriors have released a statement to ThinkProgress: “In regards to Draymond, our Trainer spoke to him on the floor when he fell and Draymond indicated that he was fine and, most importantly, he told him that he did not hit his head.”