Stephen Curry had some qualms with an oddly upgraded foul call on Golden State Warriors teammate Draymond Green, one that changed the course of a seven-point game against the Portland Trail Blazers, resulting in a 22-point loss.
Green attempted to stop a driving Zach Collins from an uncontested dunk, getting part of his arm in the process. The officials decided to review the play, upgrading it from a regular shooting foul to a Flagrant 1 as part of an odd chain of events:
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
Green argued that he's officiated under a different set of rules, which he called “The Draymond Rule” — a thought Curry didn't disagree with:
“Honestly, I think that has something to do with it,” said Curry, according to ESPN's Nick Friedell. “I looked at the replay of that play and the amount of ball that he got. I understand how they classify stuff like that as excessive or whatever, but nothing was excessive about it. He got all ball.
“I know there's a lot of chirping with Zach involved, there's probably a little sensitivity to it, trying to put out some fires. But I thought it was a terrible call. We obviously pay the price for it with how everything unfolded after that.”
The Warriors trailed 110-103 at the time, and the Blazers were awarded two free throws for the flagrant foul, plus two more for Steve Kerr's ejection, and one for a delay of game from Green, plus the ball.
It resulted in five netted free throws from the Blazers and a Jake Layman 3-pointer to make it an eight-point swing in 20 seconds. With Portland up 15 and under four minutes left, assistant coach Mike Brown took out the starters quickly, already sensing tempers could escalate even more after the clear rift between the Warriors and the officials.
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