Draymond Green’s mom Mary calls out refs after unapologetic ejection of his son from Game 1 vs Grizzlies
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Draymond Green-Golden State Warriors
Draymond Green got ejected from the Game 1 between Golden State Warriors vs Memphis Grizzlies of their semi-final series in peculiar fashion. While the veteran defender and former DPOY made his way to the locker room, his mother considered the particular “ref call” was not right.
Western Conference Semi-finals started with some drama and were followed by the reactions from fans from both sides. Draymond Green got ejected from the game with just less than 2 minutes to play in the 2nd quarter. Golden State Warriors’ marquee defender pulled down Grizzlies Brandon Clarke to prevent him from scoring, late in the second quarter on Sunday at FedExForum. The foul was under review, but Green’s reaction and Home Crowd’s chanting added some more twists to the flow of events. And ejection decision flooded Twitter, with many supporting Draymond, including his mother – Mary Babers Green.
The confused mother directly called out the referee for being – illogical. To those who are not aware she claimed that if the foul was blatant, Clarke’s face would have hit the floor! But rather Dray tried to hold Clark from hitting the floor. Safe to say, it wasn’t the first contact from Draymond, he initially smacked Clarke on his head and followed it by pulling his jersey to the floor.
Was Draymond Green’s ejection valid?
Considering the importance of the game, minutes remaining in the game, and the foul, many NBA superstars also raised their support for DrayMagic. Jazz star Donovan Mitchell was shocked by the “flagrant 2” call, while Trae Young advised, “Can’t officiate the PLAYER officiate the PLAY”. Damian Lillard directly asked for better context in the rulings.
As per NBA rules, the game officials can use their replays whenever they are not reasonably sure upon a foul meet and its criteria- for a flagrant foul. And for the review, the foul had to be called flagrant on the floor. The differentiation between FF1 and FF2 was also given in the rule book as “Unnecessary contact committed by a player against an opponent” would result in the flagrant foul category – and penalty severity increases if the contact is “excessive” as per floor referee.
Many fans in particular, including Draymond’s mother, accepted the unnecessary contact committed by the Warriors’ star, but ruling it as FF2 was a bit harsh and seemed “influenced”. The home crowd started chanting “throw him Out” as soon as referees went in for the review, and Green too made most of his capacity to fuel the crowd.
NBA official Kane Fitzgerald in the pool gave his views on the FF2 as he said, “The first part was the wind up and significant contact to the face, and then the pull down from the jersey grab and throw down to the floor to an airborne vulnerable player makes that unnecessary and excessive, That’s what led to the flagrant foul penalty two.”
Draymond’s Ejection made the game interesting
Green was instrumental against the Nuggets impacting the outcomes of the games with crucial plays on the floor. His defense against the reigning MVP Nikola Jokic was deemed to be the difference maker in the the first-round series. That pretty much stated the importance of Jersey no. 23 in the Warriors team. He played 17 minutes into the game 1 against Memphis Grizzlies and tallied 6 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists.
But a strong show by Jordan Poole (31 points), Steph Curry (24 points), and Andrew Wiggins (17 points, 8 rebounds) won the game for the Dubs. Klay Thompson’s (15 points) shot in the last minute of the game proved to be the winning one, as Ja Morant failed to score the game-winning layup.
The Warriors take a 1-0 lead in the series with a narrow 117-116 win against the Memphis Grizzlies. Ja Morant scored game-high 34 points, with 9 rebounds and 10 assists; while Jaren Jackson had a double-double with 33 points and 10 rebounds.
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Kunal Chawda
(600 Articles Published)