Draymond Green was the center of a bit of controversy on Saturday night, as he got ejected with 10 seconds to play after picking up two technical fouls while arguing the officials decision to grant Charlotte a timeout when he thought he had forced a jump ball.
At the time, Golden State was up 100-98, but after the two technical free throws by Terry Rozier, it was a tie game, the Warriors were without their best defender, and Charlotte had the ball with a chance to win and plenty of time to dial up a winner. Rozier did just that, hitting a tough fading jumper from the left corner to give the Hornets a 102-100 win. After the game, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Green “crossed the line” and earned his ejection, which was a pivotal moment in the closing seconds.
On Monday, Green spoke with reporters and agreed with his coach, noting that as he’s moved away from the emotions of the moment, he’s recognized that he was “dead-ass wrong” to pick up the second technical and get tossed, via NBC Sports Bay Area.
“It’s changed over the past couple days,” Green told reporters Monday about his perspective on the end-of-game incident. “I’d say immediately after that game I was kind of pissed off, just on my feelings on the whole situation, on how the first tech went down more so than the second tech were my initial feelings. Anger that came from the situation. As I sat and I thought about the situation and reassessed as I had time to let the whole thing marinate and digest — I was dead-ass wrong. And not that I was wrong, like I said, for the first tech per se, but once I had the first tech I can’t get the second tech. So I was a bit disappointed. I’m still a bit disappointed in myself because I think that whole situation bothered me. I know for sure it did.”
It’s good to see Green show this kind of perspective and while it doesn’t exactly help the Warriors immediately, it’s clear that Green recognizes that he has to find a way to rein in his emotions in critical moments and, once he’s picked up that first T, he can’t keep going and earn a second to get tossed (and in this case, give Charlotte free throws to tie the game).
