Game 2 of the 2022 NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics was quite eventful. Of course, the headlines were full of Stephen Curry’s amazing 29-point game, which helped the Dubs level the series at 1-1.
Completely opposite to Curry’s amazing game, Jayson Tatum had an incredibly poor outing which resulted in him having the worst plus-minus in NBA Finals history. But arguably the biggest headline of this fixture was the heated scuffle between Jaylen Brown and Draymond Green.
Green fouled Brown on a three-point attempt before the halftime buzzer. Following the controversial foul by Green, Brown was fuming and engaged in a verbal fight with the former DPOY.
Most believed that this incident will result in double-tech. If that had happened, it would have meant that Green would have been ejected from the game as he already had a technical foul to his name.
Surprisingly, the refs reviewed the play and decided against handing out technical fouls to either player. Since then, the NBA community has been divided about their opinions regarding that decision by refs.
Most recently, New Orleans Pelicans guard CJ McCollum joined ESPN’s First Take, where he discussed that play. McCollum believed that in the NBA Finals, that wasn’t a foul and the refs protected Green from being ejected.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rwQraGPALU
“The referee’s job is to monitor the game not control it. I thought they did a great job of monitoring the situation. Assessing the intention, assessing happened. Was it extra? Absolutely. Did it deserve a technical? Absolutely not, not in this situation. The referees can’t control the outcome of the game. … I thought that they handled this situation accordingly.”
As McCollum explained, due to the stage being the NBA Finals, the refs are aware that the game can get a bit intense.
Additionally, many fans have complained over the years that the league has become soft. So not calling such fouls will restore the NBA to a stage when the league used to be a bit rougher.
Still, due to his reputation, Green seems to get away with hard fouls more often than other players. If the league truly wants to be fair, they do not need to be biased toward a few players.
