We can all see that, can't we? It's not like he just lost his **** out of nowhere and went into a punching rage. What he did was wrong, and Poole clearly played a part and could have made different decisions too. How is this a controversial statement?
		
		
	 
Serious question, what exactly could Poole have done to avoid it? Green walked to him, got chest to chest and face to face. Should he have raised his hand and called the coach over and said "Draymond is picking on me?" or just run away. He has zero choice really. Green was obviously looking for a fight and wasn't going to stop if Poole said "my bad" or whatever.
He pushed Green off as if to say "get the **** outta here" and Green then pushed back with more force to where there was plenty of space between them. It should have ended there but Green followed up and threw the punch. It was a no win situation for Poole once Draymond took that long walk over and tried to intimidate him.
		
 
		
	 
I know you say it's a serious question, but really? In the same sentence you state some options and then claim they aren't options. 
1. Not talk **** to him in the corner the whole time
2. Not stay standing on the baseline as he approaches you
3. Ok, he's in my face - just sit there and let him yell it out
4. Ok, he's in my face - don't shove him hard?
5. Ok, so go ahead and yell back in his face like any normal "hold me back in a real game" situation where others will step in
6. Idk what he said to start the situation, but I have a feeling it's not like Poole scored the prior play, went to the baseline to take his turn, and Draymond lost his mind. Like, Poole obviously talked some **** at some point. So he could have like, you know, not done that?
Again - I'd have ended up in the situation where Green throws a punch, probably. That doesn't mean i wouldn't be able to see all the points I could have opted out of that situation. I'd probably have started it by talking some serious ****, continued to talk **** at him the entire time, and if he moved towards me I wouldn't have waited, I'd have moved half way to meet him with a raised voice and escalated it. But that's me. And I can see a bunch of chances to not be in the situation.
Let's say my wife does something stupid. I can not say anything about it, or even act like it isn't stupid, and avoid her being annoyed. I can say things in a way that don't make her feel dumb. Or I can say "that's stupid," and she can get mad and I can live with it. What I can't do is look back and act like I'm surprised she's upset if I said that she was being stupid.