Refs admit Draymond Green's ejection was a 'mistake'

Green was ejected late in the second quarter after being called for his second technical foul. Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Referees admit Draymond Green's ejection was a 'mistake'

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Larry Brown | Last updated 1/22/21

One of the referees involved in Thursday night’s Golden State Warriors-New York Knicks game admitted that the Draymond Green ejection was a mistake.

Green was ejected late in the second quarter after being called for his second technical foul. He got the tech for yelling at teammate James Wiseman while going down the court.

Referee John Butler thought Green was yelling at him, not Wiseman, and ejected the Warriors forward.

Draymond just got ejected pic.twitter.com/Lf8YU7aDcN

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) January 22, 2021

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said after the game that another referee, Ben Taylor, told him at halftime that it was a “mistake” by Butler to call a tech on Green.

Kerr says at halftime ref Ben Taylor said it was a "mistake" that Draymond was given a second tech. Taylor said that ref John Butler — who gave Draymond the second tech — didn't realize that Draymond was yelling at Wiseman.

— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) January 22, 2021

Green has a reputation for racking up technical fouls, which likely hurt him in this instance. The league will likely rescind the technical foul call, but that won’t make up for Green missing half of his team’s 119-104 loss.

Green has complained for years about getting unfair technical fouls. This instance seemed to be proof of his complaint.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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