Draymond Green was ejected. It’s not news, no. The Warriors player has already accumulated 24 games in his career in which he has had to leave the court early due to accumulation of technicals (he has 169) or aggression against opponents. In NBA history, only Rasheed Wallace (29) surpasses him.
This time it was for two technicals when there were more than 10 minutes left in the game after he shoved Collin Gillespie, the Suns’ shooting guard, in the back, which was followed by a series of shouts at the referees, who ended up sending him to the locker room. The Warriors player blocked his opponent and while they were going to the opposite court they exchanged words that led to the push. First technique. The anger that unleashed led to the second. He had been on the court for only eight minutes.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr was very upset. Not by Green’s ejection, which “he definitely deserved,” but because in the last game between the two teams, Dillon Brooks, another of the NBA’s bad boys, assaulted Stephen Curry without being ejected: “The other night we saw a guy from their team punch Steph in the stomach, premeditated, and there was no ejection. Two nights later, the referees got angry with some words from Draymond. I totally disagreed.” Then, after reviewing the action, the referees decided that this action was only a flagrant foul and did not eject the Suns player.
Brooks’ background
The Warriors contacted the NBA with the conviction that Brooks should be fined or suspended for this last game but it was not. “How can you not be upset?”, Kerr continued to complain: “This guy broke Gary’s [Payton II] elbow in one of the dirtiest plays I’ve ever seen. It’s not like he doesn’t have a track record. There they are. They reviewed the play with Steph, but I don’t know what the point of replay is if you’re not going to eject someone for hitting an opponent”.
Despite this, Green’s expulsion was a spur for the Warriors, who were then trailing by nine (37-46). Curry said the action “woke up the team”. The star, who finished with 28 points, put the final score of 119-116 with a basket with five seconds left. Devin Booker, on the last possession, missed the three-pointer to send the game into overtime.
Read the full article here
