Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr admitted winger Draymond Green “crossed the line” Saturday night when he was sent off in the final seconds of the 102-100 loss to the Charlotte Hornets.
The wild sequence that led to Green’s expulsion began with 9.3 seconds remaining in regulation time and the Warriors won 100-98, when the guard, Brad Wanamaker, was tied for a jump by the Hornets escort. , Lamelo Ball. After Hornets winger Gordon Hayward cornered the ball and fell to the ground, Green seemed to quickly tie Hayward up for a jump. However, the Hornets were given a timeout.
Green started arguing with the referees and was quickly sanctioned with two technical fouls and sent off, giving the Hornets two free throws and the ball. Charlotte baseman Terry Rozier came close to the line and put in two free throws to tie the score at 100.
According to later, Rozier drained a shot from the corner to the bell to give the Hornets the victory.
“He crossed the line,” Kerr said of Green. “That’s the main thing. We love his passion and his energy. We wouldn’t be the team we are without him, but that doesn’t give him a license to cross that line, and he knows it,” he added.
“His first technique was evaluated when he addressed bad words to his opponent,” said Davis, who explained the foul and is the Warriors ’chief of staff. “He was assessed as his first technical foul to verbally mock an opponent. He then proceeded to call a referee directly from the game and received his (second) technical foul and was sent off according to the rule,” he said. add.
Kerr said he “didn’t have time” for an explanation in the heat at the moment, as the Warriors were quick to include Juan Toscano-Anderson in the game to replace Green.
But what bothered Kerr and the Warriors staff happened in the sequence before making the jump between the two. Kerr said he was asking for a time out before Ball tied Wanamaker to create the jump in the first place.
“There’s a lot to relax about,” Kerr said of the final seconds. “But if you just want to go to the grain, it’s a very difficult decision on a lost ball that becomes a jump in which they get a timeout. Especially because in the exact same situation, I was trying to ask for a time when Brad had the ball at the top.So since exactly the same thing happened consecutively, only that we actually had possession I tried to ask for a timeout.And then, seeing the replay after the game, it’s a lost ball, he’s actually bouncing on the floor, Draymond throws himself after him, in my opinion it should be another jump between the two. “
Davis explained that in the officials’ opinion, the tie occurred before Kerr requested a time out. For his part, Wanamaker admitted that he did not hear Kerr ask for a time-out, but he was not sure how exactly the sequence unfolded.
“Lamelo ties Brad up before Kerr requests the time-out,” Davis noted. “The post-game video confirmed that this decision was judged correctly.”
It was a failure with which the Warriors disagreed, but it was a moment when Green took responsibility. Warriors winger Eric Paschall said that when the team returned to the locker room after the game, Green took the blame for committing the two late technical fouls.
“He said it was his fault,” Paschall nuanced. “And he took possession as he always does as a leader. We keep ‘rocking’ with Dray regardless of the. A great guy, competitor, so all is well. We’re just going to learn from that and try to come back, try to win the next one. “He is a great leader and competitor.”
As much as the Warriors teammates and coaches respect Green, Kerr was clearly frustrated with the inability to control his emotions at the end of the game. For years, Green has been a league leader in technical fouls as he loudly expresses his objection to several calls from officers or words from opponents. But Kerr has said repeatedly over the years that he felt Green knew when not to cross a line. This time he did it again.