Draymond Green’s longstanding feud with NBA referees continues, even now that he is watching from his couch at home.
The Golden State Warriors star Green was live-tweeting portions of Thursday’s Western Conference Finals Game 2 between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets. One particular sequence in the first quarter sparked debate when Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell was whistled for a flagrant foul in transition on Nuggets guard Jamal Murray (video here).
Green disagreed with the call and took a swipe at the officiating crew.
“Soft,” Green wrote of the flagrant foul.
Soft
— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) May 19, 2023
Many thought that the flagrant was warranted since Russell wound up and caught Murray in the head and face area on his follow-through. But others believed it was a legitimate play on the ball to prevent an easy fast break basket, a key tenet of hard-nosed, no-holds-barred playoff basketball.
The notoriously physical Green will always fall in the latter category, so his reaction here is pretty on-brand. Another factor may have been that Tony Brothers, a pretty unpopular figure among NBA players, was the referee crew chief for Thursday’s game.
