Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green questioned the flagrant foul called against him in their costly 106-96 loss to the Houston Rockets on Sunday.
With 10:10 remaining in the third quarter, Green’s offensive foul against Rockets All-Star center Alperen Sengun was changed to a flagrant foul.
“That actually changed that game,” Green said on his podcast ‘The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis” on April 7. “I don’t know man. That’s a flagrant? For that to be a flagrant foul for, number one he’s running underneath me and then [so I] don’t jump? So for it not to be an and-one is actually crazy.”
Had it been an and-one play instead of a flagrant foul against him, the Warriors would have trimmed the Rockets’ 60-53 lead further.
Draymond Green Can’t Accept NBA Ref’s Explanation
Green’s earlier elbow to Sengun in the first half might have factored in the referees’ decision to charge the Warriors forward a flagrant foul. Green was called for a technical foul for planting an elbow to Sengun as they jockeyed for a position off an inbound play.
“That’s fine, cool,” Green said of the technical foul. “Moving on then to get a flagrant foul, the flagrant foul wasn’t necessarily what killed me. What killed me was the description.”
Ben Taylor, the officiating crew chief, said that after review, they saw Green “delivers contact with speed speed as he wind up, makes significant impact to the head of Sengun.
“I’m just not sure how else to go to the basket,” Green said.
The NBA Sports-Bay Area commentators were also in disbelief of the referees’ decision.
“It was the normal upward shooting motion,” the first commentator said on the broadcast.
“And he didn’t stick out his elbow any more than it normally would be,” the second commentator said. “Nope. There’s nothing unnecessary about this, like this is just incidental contact.”
It was also Green’s fifth personal foul.
Draymond Green Gives Credit to Rockets
Green and the Warriors cut the Rockets lead to two points in the fourth quarter but they ran out of steam.
“After that, it definitely was deflating and we just didn’t have enough in the tank,” Green said.
But Green gave credit to the Rockets who held him and Stephen Curry to a combined five points. Green was 1-for-5 while Curry was 1-for-10.
“Nonetheless though you got to give them some credit,” Green said of the Rockets. “They stepped up. They made some big shots. Jalen Green had a really good game. Dillon Brooks played well. Amen Thompson — you know I’ve been a fan of him. He’s so athletic and he’s just getting more and more confident. … I think he’s really the key to that team and then Jabari [Smith Jr.] had a good game off the bench. Sengun also played well.”
Sengun dominated Green with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Brooks led the Rockets in scoring with 24 points. Jalen Green added 21 points and five assists. Thompson stuffed the stats sheet with 14 points, six rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks while locking up Curry. Smith had 16 points and nine rebounds to lead Houston’s bench.
The costly loss dropped the Warriors to No. 6 but tied with the Los Angeles Clippers (No. 5), Memphis Grizzlies (No. 7) and the Minnesota Timberwolves (No. 8) with 46-32 record.
