Why Warriors’ Draymond Green is mad about Jamal Murray’s punishment for heating pack toss

Since Green has been administered technical fouls and suspensions throughout his whole career, O’Neal asked the Warriors star to put himself into Murray’s shoes and asked how the officials would have treated him. Green went into detail about how it was a baffling call from the league that Murray wasn’t suspended and said he would’ve been out for the rest of the playoffs, and went back to a time where he tried to hit Los Angeles Lakers and then Cleveland Cavalier LeBron James in the NBA Finals.

“I would’ve got suspended for the rest of the playoffs for sure. I tried to hit Bron, got suspended from game five in the finals,” Green said which then led to O’Neal clarifying if he tried to hit James. “Damn right I tried to hit him, ain’t gonna step over my shoulder. A lot of space on the basketball court. I don’t take up that much space. You don’t need to go over my shoulder. You go over my shoulder, you disrespected me as a man and so I got suspended for trying to make contact and you throw a heating pack on the court and that’s okay.”

“If somebody stepped on that heated pack and get hurt then is it a bigger deal? Or is it not? Don’t tell me we don’t want to affect the outcome of the game because the outcome of an NBA Finals was affected. We want the players to decide determine what what was happening on the court and outcome unless that rule change.”

Warriors star said NBA officiating is not consistent

When Murray threw a heating pack in the direction of an NBA official, there was no technical foul called, just a stoppage of play to remove the object from the court. This sparked a lot of conversation, especially when it was revealed after the fact that Murray would not be suspended, but fined and able to play the rest of the series.

Green was referencing his suspension in the 2016 NBA Finals that started when he tried to hit James in Game 4 as the Warriors would eventually lose the series after being up 3-1. The 34-year old veteran would then say on the podcast that he does not understand the slippery slope of suspensions are out to be and said if he happens to “throw a word at an official, they throw me under the jail.”

“The problem that I have oftentimes with the suspensions and different things is like, you don’t know what it is. Sometimes it’s here sometimes it’s there. Sometimes it’s in between, it just kind of moves. There is no set you do this, you get this, you do that,” Green said. “You get this. It’s all over the place. And so when I saw that people like oh, they did the right thing because they didn’t want to affect the outcome. I am an NBA Finals MVP short because an outcome was affected. I think it was absolutely insane that you get $100,000 fine, no suspension, no nothing for throwing a heating pack at an official, I throw a word at an official they throw me under the jail.”

Initial outrage regarding Murray throwing heating pack at official

The Warriors star in Green was not the only other person that had trouble with Murray’s actions as even Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch was irate after the infamous game about how Murray was basically given a slap on the wrist. While he understands the referees might not have seen it, he described the throwing of the heating pad on the court as “inexcusable and dangerous” according to Chris Hine of The Star Tribune.

“When it was explained to me, the referees didn’t see it either, so they’re not able to issue a technical unless they see it,” Finch said. “We tried to impress upon them there are probably not many fans in the building that have a heat pack. So it probably had to come from the bench, which they found logical. It’s inexcusable and dangerous. … I’m sure there was nothing intentional by the officiating at all. Certainly can’t allow that to happen.”

Murray said he takes “full responsibility”

People were also critical about how Murray brushed off his actions when he spoke to the media about the events of Game 2 against the Timberwolves. He was not as responsive to the media as people would have liked, but did say he takes “full responsibility” of what he did.

“Nah, I mean it is what it is and I take everything in full responsibility, so on to the next,” Murray said when asked if he expected a fine and if he felt his punishment was appropriate. “Yeah, on to the next. I mean, two days ago, not much for me to say about it right now.”

Crew chief explains lack of call, plus Warriors outlook

Crew chief for the game in Marc Davis spoke to a pool reporter after the game and spoke about the lack of punishment in the heat of the contest. He would say that he “didn’t notice it was on the floor” and if they had saw the action being done or even just the heating pad, “the penalty would have been a technical foul” according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

“I was the lead official, and I didn’t notice it was on the floor or where it came from until Towns scored,” Davis told a pool reporter. “We weren’t aware it had come from the bench. If we would have been aware it came from the bench, we could have reviewed it under the hostile act trigger. The penalty would have been a technical foul.”

In any sense, the past is the past as the Nuggets have been officially eliminated from the playoffs by the Timberwolves in seven games. As for Green and the Warriors, they were eliminated in the first play-in tournament game against the Sacramento Kings, sparking up questions on how they can improve after a 10th place finish and 46-36 record.