Getty Draymond Green #23 of the Golden State Warriors celebrates after scoring during the first quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr was dumbfounded by Draymond Green’s ejection.
In what Kerr described as a bizarre moment, Green’s ejection hurt the Warriors as they fell 118-110 to the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.
“[The explanation was] that he got a technical foul for elbowing [Donovan] Mitchell a couple of plays before maybe,” Kerr told reporters after the loss. “So I had never heard of this rule, but apparently you can retroactively call a technical on someone from two plays before upon review.”
Green drew his second technical foul with 6:23 left in the third quarter after a review of Mitchell’s shove on the Warriors forward. Mitchell, who only drew a common foul, pointed out he was only retaliating after Green shoved him in an earlier play.
Draymond Green and Donovan Mitchell getting into it 👀
It was a simmering situation that boiled over that Mitchell shove.
At the 6:42 mark, Green stole the ball from Mitchell and the Warriors forward roared to celebrate his hustle play behind the Cavaliers star who was still on the floor.
Draymond picked Donovan Mitchell’s pockets 🍪
The tension between the two stars escalated at the 6:28 mark when Green pushed Mitchell to the ground during a Caris LeVert fastbreak play.
Draymond Green was assessed a second technical and was ejected after this shove on Donovan Mitchell 🧐
When pressed further about his opinion on the game officials having the power to make retroactive calls, Kerr answered with sarcasm.
“I had no idea. So there’s lots of plays I like to go back to from three years ago and, you know, that was bizarre,” Kerr told reporters.
Draymond Green’s Return
The ejection marred Green’s return from a one-game absence due to personal reasons.
Green left the game with eight points, five rebounds and four assists.
Fired up by Green’s ejection, the Warriors roared back from the 10-point deficit and took the lead briefly, 83-82, with 11 seconds left in the third quarter.
“It was more emotion,” Kerr pointed out rather than their motion offense which fueled their run,” it was more a force.” It was the first time, literally all season, that first unit has looked right because of the energy they all brought.”
However, when things settled down, the Cavaliers went on to outwork them in the fourth quarter. Dean Wade’s back-to-back 3-pointers gave Cleveland the lead for good and they never looked back.
Six Cavaliers scored in double figures led by LeVert’s 22 and Mitchell’s 21 points, respectively.
Draymond Green Rule
For the second straight time against the Cavaliers, Green was at the receiving end of the short end of the stick from the referees.
In their first meeting, Allen inadvertently kicked Green in the groin but the Cavaliers center escaped without an infraction.
Oh no, Draymond 😅
It did not sit well with the mercurial Warriors forward who called out the NBA for what he felt was a double standard.
“The Draymond Green Rule is only a rule when Draymond Green is delivering… Cool.”
Dray voices out on IG regarding the groin shot from Jarrett Allen earlier in the Warriors vs. Cavs in-season matchup 👀
Green’s reputation for being a borderline dirty player is working against him and it’s costing the Warriors.
It can be recalled that Green also did the same to Steven Adams during the 2016 NBA playoffs, which ultimately factored in his suspension in Game 5 of their finals series which the Cavaliers eventually won.