SAN FRANCISCO — Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green was ejected early in the second quarter of Saturday night’s 119-116 win over the Phoenix Suns, receiving back-to-back technical fouls for a shove of Suns guard Collin Gillespie and an extended argument about the initial call afterward.
Green blocked Gillespie’s shot with 10:45 left in the quarter and the two exchanged words on the way up the court. Right as Stephen Curry made a transition 3 at the 10:39 mark, Green barreled into Gillespie, drawing the initial technical call from nearby official Pat Fraher.
Upset at the whistle, Green turned his ire toward Fraher and mimicked the technical call. He then followed Fraher toward the scorer’s table and continued to yell in his direction, eventually earning the second technical as team security ushered him toward the bench and eventually to the locker room.
“I thought it was weak,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “He definitely deserved one. But he’s walking to the bench and yells something and second technical. We just saw a guy on their team literally punch Steph in the stomach the other night, premeditated, punches him in the stomach and no ejection for that. Two nights later, refs got upset with some words from Draymond. I totally disagreed.”
Kerr was referencing a Dillon Brooks flagrant foul that occurred late in the fourth quarter of the Warriors’ loss in Phoenix on Thursday night. Brooks swung and nailed Curry in the stomach during his shooting follow-through from the corner, sending him writhing to the ground in pain. Officials reviewed it, called it a flagrant but didn’t eject Brooks from the game.
The Warriors reached out to the league between games under the belief that Brooks should be fined or suspended. He was not.
“How could you not be upset?” Kerr said. “This is a guy who broke Gary [Payton II]’s elbow in the playoffs clotheslining him on one of the dirtiest plays I’ve ever seen. It’s not like there’s not a track record there. It’s right there. They look at it. I don’t know what the point of replay is if you’re not going to kick someone out for literally punching somebody.
“It’s bizarre to me that, first of all, ejected from that game and then suspended or fined. Nothing? Nothing? So apparently, you are now allowed — this is my take — you are allowed to premeditate a punch of any shooter who is left defenseless, you can now take a swing at him and just get a flagrant one.”
The Warriors were down nine when Green was ejected, but came back to beat the Suns with a strong second half. Curry said the Green ejection “woke” the team up. The win snapped a three-game losing streak and gave some temporary reprieve to the struggling Warriors.
It was Green’s first ejection this season but the 21st regular-season disqualification of his career.