Warriors forward Draymond Green was on the receiving end of a horrible technical foul call Thursday night. To make matters worse, it was his second tech of the game, which meant he was ejected.
Why was the call so bad? Because Green was yelling at a teammate, rookie James Wiseman, rather than an official or an opponent when he got T’d up.
Green was incredulous as he got the news during Golden State’s game against the Knicks.
Oddly, neither of the other two officials chose to confer with colleague John Butler and make sure the second-quarter technical was legitimate. They, too, had to have heard what Green was yelling inside the empty Chase Center.
Green focused on the lack of a review in a postgame interview with The Undefeated’s Marc J. Spears. He said he was “a bit confused” as to why the crew couldn’t or wouldn’t get together to discuss “a technical that was clearly the wrong call.”
“Maybe it’s time to take a look at that rule,” Green was quoted as saying. “I would love clarity on why that’s the rule, if in fact it’s a rule.”
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Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters after the game that crew chief Ben Taylor told him at halftime that Butler mistakenly thought Green was yelling at him and not Wiseman.
But Taylor did not acknowledge any error when he was interviewed by pool reporter Monte Poole postgame. He said only that Green was ejected for “profanity that was deemed to be directed at the official” and added that the crew did not consider rescinding the technical on the court.
POOL REPORT ON SECOND TECHNICAL FOUL WITH 1:04 REMAINING TO PLAY IN THE SECOND QUARTER OF THE NEW YORK KNICKS/GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS GAME: pic.twitter.com/dVgsOHQ2KK
— NBA Official (@NBAOfficial) January 22, 2021
Wiseman, meanwhile, backed Green in his own postgame comments. “I don’t understand the situation and why the ref did that,” he said.
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau was just happy to see Green gone.
“Draymond, we caught a break when he got thrown out,” he said postgame, per The Associated Press. New York won the game 119-104.
The NBA can decide to rescind Green’s second technical once it gathers all the information about it. Based on the Warriors’ reactions and Taylor’s supposed admission to Kerr, expect that T to go away quickly Friday. Too little, too late, but at least some justice will be done after Green was done wrong by the officials.
This article has been updated throughout with postgame comments.