Steve Kerr absolutely lost it after a hack by Draymond Green was upgraded to a flagrant foul, leading to the Golden State coach being ejected during the Warriors' contest against the Portland Trailblazers.
Late in the fourth quarter, Green fouled Blazer Zach Collins to prevent the center from getting a clean dunk at the rim. Initially, this seemed like a typical basketball play. Obviously a foul, but with enough of the ball involved to keep it a basketball play. After further review, the referees upgraded the call from a common foul to a flagrant 1.
This set Kerr off. He immediately went on the attack against official Kenny Mauer, tossing his clipboard and several choice words. In return, Mauer gave Kerr two technicals, an automatic ejection.
"I was just shocked that it was called a flagrant foul. That was head-scratching that could be called a flagrant foul," Kerr told the media following the team's 129-107 loss. "I mean, the guy's going to go up for a dunk, you got to make sure he doesn't dunk it. So I told Kenny I beg to differ."
Green agreed with his coach's reaction when he voiced his frustration with the way the game was called. "I got a lot of ball," Green said about his foul against Collins. "I don't know. It's the Draymond rule."
Green—who has 11 technical fouls this season and is known for his tough style of play—feels that the game is officiated differently when he's involved in a play. This was echoed by several of his teammates, including Steph Curry. "I looked at the replay of that play and the amount of ball that he got. I understand how they classify stuff like that as excessive or whatever, but nothing was excessive about it," Curry said.
Green was thankful for the support of his team and coach. "I loved that too," Green said. "It's great. He set the tone for us to close the game the way we did. It was good."
