OAKLAND – Draymond Green was whistled for another technical foul Tuesday night, his sixth of the season. The Warriors forward wasn’t happy about it, and neither was his coach.
Green’s transgression, as decided by lead official John Goble, was hanging on the rim after dunking to punctuate a one-man coast-to-coast fast break with 2:07 left in the second quarter of a 104-74 thrashing of the Utah Jazz.
“I was upset because Draymond was going a million miles an hour on that play,” said Kerr, who protested vigorously enough to nearly get his own technical foul. “That was the play of the game. He blew past all nine guys and dunked it. He’s flying in. If he lets go of the rim, he’s going to break his neck.
“It makes zero sense to give a guy a T when he’s flying in and has to grab onto the rim, and hold onto the rim, to protect himself.”
Green was in traffic when he was hanging from the rim in a way that he has dozens of times before. Officials generally give latitude when player safety may be at risk.
Not this time.
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“I don’t get it,” Kerr said. “I don’t understand. It’s about safety. It made no sense to me to give him a technical. So that’s why I was upset.”
Unable to understand the call, Green threw a mini-fit, which may have been more deserving of a technical foul that the actual charge of hanging on the rim.
“I can’t run full speed and just come straight back down without breaking my neck,” Green said. “So it’s neither here nor there.”
“A lot of people hang on the rim just to hang. If you’re going full speed, 94 feet, I don’t know many guys that are just coming straight back down. But maybe that’s . . . I don’t know.”
That moment may have only served to fire up Green, who came back in the second half to own the floor, scoring more points (11) after halftime than anybody on either team. He finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds, five steals and four assists.
