Though still on a minutes restriction, Draymond Green was back in the starting lineup for the first time since March 1. Eighteen minutes of floor time later, Green was back in the locker room.
Green was ejected for the first time this season midway through the third quarter, receiving two technical fouls from official Marat Kogut after arguing a foul call at the rim. Here’s the play in question that set Green off:
Believing that he went straight up to contest Devin Vassell, Green got the first tech for arguing too demonstratively. That really set Green off, and he continued to talk to Kogut after play continued. He was eventually tossed after the next possession.
The Warriors have history with Kogut dating all the way back to 2019. Stephen Curry was so upset with a number of calls made by Kogut at the conclusion of a game vs. Minnesota, he sarcastically called Kogut “the MVP of the night.” Green, Curry and Kevin Durant were all fined for criticizing officials after that game.
Green was also upset with Kogut earlier this season after receiving a technical foul in a game vs. Dallas. Green believed that Kogut’s conduct was unprofessional.
“I got a technical for a referee walking away from me and then coming back to talk to me and I walk away,” Green said after the game. “That’s why I got a technical. I think I got eight or nine techs this year. Five or six of them are super questionable. And as I said to the ref, ‘It’s unbelievable that you’ll walk away from me, very disrespectful, mid-sentence when we’re having a normal conversation and if I walked away from you when you were talking to me, you’d give me a tech.’ He continued to walk away from me, then walked up to me and said ‘All right, what do you have to say?’ And I said ‘f–k it. It’s cool. I don’t even want to talk no more. It’s all right’ and walked away and got a tech. So, you tell me where the tech is at.”