The Golden State Warriors lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers 118-110 on Saturday night, but the biggest talking point afterward was Draymond Green’s ejection. Green was assessed a second technical foul retroactively in the third quarter, after an altercation with Donovan Mitchell.
Draymond Green was ejected from the game after this altercation with Donovan Mitchell. pic.twitter.com/L4DbvsI8fM
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) November 12, 2023
This all kickstarted with Green pushing Mitchell in the back, sending the Cavaliers guard into the front row. The officials didn’t call a foul for it and an annoyed Mitchell ran into Green in retaliation for that earlier push.
As the officials looked into whether Mitchell had committed a flagrant foul, they also went back and checked the push. They declared it was just a common foul from Donovan, but deemed that the push merited a technical. It meant that Green, who had received a technical in the first half for arguing with an official, was ejected for the first time this season.
What makes this puzzling is that officials normally don’t go back to review an incident from an earlier play. They did here for some reason, and Green, who had 8 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists in the game, had to go.
Mitchell gleefully celebrated the ejection, as he put up two fingers, which was in reference to the two technicals you’d assume. He had 21 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and a block in this contest, as the Cavaliers improved to 4-5. The Warriors, meanwhile, dropped to 6-4 with this loss.
Steve Kerr Reacted To The Ejection
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr wasn’t too happy with this decision by the officials as you might imagine. When asked after the game whether he had received an explanation from them, Kerr stated he had never heard of this rule.
“They said that he got a technical for elbowing Mitchell a couple (of) plays before maybe,” Kerr said. “So, I had never heard of this rule, but apparently you can retroactively call a technical on someone from two plays before upon review.”
"I had never heard of this rule."
Kerr shared his thoughts on Draymond retroactively receiving a technical, leading to an ejection pic.twitter.com/3uY7XaK7YD
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) November 12, 2023
When Kerr was asked for his opinion on this rule, he joked about wanting some plays from three years ago that he wants looked into. Even Kevon Looney stated that he had never heard of such a rule.
While Green deserved the technical in my book, I don’t want them to start going back and refereeing previous plays. Just how far back do you start going if you open this Pandora’s box?
Draymond Green Was Fuming After The First Meeting With The Cavaliers
This was actually the second meeting between the Cavaliers and the Warriors in less than a week. Cleveland won both of them, but that wasn’t the only thing in common, as Green was furious after the first meeting as well.
Draymond was fuming after taking a groin shot from Jarrett Allen, as he called out what he perceived to be a double standard. Allen was not even called for a foul and no action was taken against him, which Green was not happy about.
Draymond has, of course, in the past landed himself in trouble for hitting opponents in the groin area and wasn’t a fan of Allen escaping punishment for it. The fact of the matter is, though, that Allen doesn’t really have a history of this kind of conduct, while Green does.
You get the benefit of the doubt when it happens once or twice, but when the incidents start mounting up, as was the case with Green, the league will come down hard.
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