CLEVELAND (AP) — Another eventful Game 4 of the NBA Finals for Draymond Green — even after it appeared he’d been ejected in this one.
Green was allowed to stay in the game Friday night after officials said the first of two technical fouls charged to him had actually been called on coach Steve Kerr.
Green finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds in the Warriors’ 137-116 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers that cut their lead to 3-1.
A year after his antics on this floor last year led to a suspension for Game 5 that began the Warriors’ historic collapse, the fiery forward was again in the middle of the night’s strangest scene.
Green appeared to be ejected when he was called for what the Cavs and Warriors thought was his second technical midway through the third quarter. He waved his arms in frustration at an official after being called for fouling Kevin Love and was hit with the tech, which would have triggered an automatic ejection.
But Green didn’t leave the court, and referees said the technical they called after Green’s foul with 1:55 remaining in the first quarter was on Kerr — though the official box score had it listed as Green.
Kerr said he thought the first technical was called on Green — though said he thought he deserved it — and believed his power forward was going to have to leave the floor when the one was called in the third quarter.
But Green stood stoically on the floor, then egged on the crowd to raise the decibel level of their jeers toward him.
The box was changed after the third quarter to indicate Kerr had received the first technical.
Green swiped at LeBron James’ groin late in Game 4 last year and was subsequently called for a flagrant foul. That gave him an accumulation of flagrant foul points and forced him to sit out Game 5 as the Warriors lost their chance to clinch the series, and they eventually fell in seven games.