Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green wasn't pleased with the officiating in the last game before the All-Star break, going from a closely contested seven-point game into a 22-point loss against the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night. In fact, he believes he's being officiated under a different set of rules, one he calls ‘The Draymond Rule.”
Green was whistled for a regular shooting foul against a driving Zach Collins, but the play was consequently reviewed after a previous altercation between Collins and Klay Thompson, which caused for tempers to flare.
The Warriors star was already miffed at chief referee Kenny Mauer for a previous call, and was soon to lose it once officials upgraded his foul to a Flagrant 1 call.
Head coach Steve Kerr was irate, for starters that the play was reviewed, and lastly for the outcome of the call — spiking his clipboard in front of Mauer and causing his immediate ejection from the game:
This is the flagrant foul that led to Steve Kerr spiking his clipboard and getting tossed. pic.twitter.com/3FK224Wuhn
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 14, 2019
“I got a lot of ball,” Green said about the play, according to ESPN's Nick Friedell. “I don't know. It's the Draymond rule.”
Green was appreciative of the way Kerr stood up for him at the end of the game, hoping to pick up the technical foul and consequent ejection in his place, but to no avail:
“I loved that too,” Green said. “That was amazing. It's great. He set the tone for us to close the game the way we did. It was good. I got a tech also for standing there; that probably should be a delay of game, not a tech. You can't give somebody a tech because they're standing there. That's a delay of game. But whatever. Probably a Draymond Green rule too.”
Mauer ejected Kerr, T'd Green up, as well as awarded two foul shots for Collins and possession of the ball — resulting in five trips to the line for the Blazers — all cashed in, followed by a Jake Layman 3-point basket.
That was an 8-0 run in the span of 20 seconds, one that transformed an already game-high seven-point lead for the Blazers into a 15-point advantage as a point of no return.
Green did come across the body on the play, and while he got the ball, he also made contact with Collins' upper body. But to review a play in which the player did not hit the hardwood or saw any added harm was a bit excessive.
The officials could have tried to make that call in hopes of calming the fires in an already chippy game, but they wound up putting it completely out of reach by over-policing a regular foul call.
While Draymond Green does have the reputation of a hard-nosed defender, there is no evidence of ill intent or actual “excessive” contact to warrant the Flagrant 1 call, which has made the Warriors forward wonder about how he's being officiated.
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