In the final minute of the first half Sunday, Draymond Jamal Green found himself precisely where he is most of the time: right in the midst of a controversy of his own making.
Moments earlier, he’d fallen into, then onto, Celtics star Jaylen Brown, who’d just launched a three-pointer before Green fouled him on a contest. Perhaps taking issue with Brown kicking out his left leg beforehand, Green laid his legs on top of the fallen Brown’s upper body. As Brown prepared to sit back up, Green lightly shoved him in the back, leading Brown to then stand over Green. The forwards got in each other’s faces, prompting official Zach Zarba, Marcus Smart and Jayson Tatum all to clog the path between Green and Brown to make sure things didn’t escalate. Brown later said he was frustrated by what he described as Green trying “to pull my pants down” in the ruckus.
The incident itself likely wouldn’t have been noteworthy aside from the fact that it happened after Green had already drawn a technical foul in the early stages of the game. So as the dust settled with this instance, referees reviewed what happened to see what punishment, if any, should be doled out as a result of the tie-up. It was a bit awkward, because nearly everyone from the announcers on the broadcast, to former official Steve Javie in Secaucus, N.J., to fans on Twitter, could acknowledge that the play normally would have resulted in a double technical foul. Yet most agreed—and referees confirmed—that there’d be no such call here, in part because Green already had the earlier technical, meaning another would have him ejected.
