1st technical foul of playoffs for fiery leader
SALT LAKE CITY — You could feel it coming. The crowd at Vivint Smart Home Arena was fired up and angry and the fans focused their anger on — guess who? — Draymond Green.
“They were booing me pretty loud,” Green said. “There are some places I go where I should definitely be booed, but I don’t know if this is one of them. I never really had any beef with any players on the Jazz or done anything.”
Wide-eyed, innocent Green knows darn well that he’s the Warriors’ lightning rod. It’s not as satisfying to boo sweet Stephen Curry or gliding talent Kevin Durant. So they try to get a reaction from Green.
They got it late in the second quarter.
Green picked up his third personal foul while going for a rebound, and he disagreed. Acting head coach Mike Brown subbed him out for David West and Green was booed loudly as he walked to the bench. He smiled and saluted the crowd with two fingers.
“I just reminded them they were down 2-0,” Green said.
It looked as if he’d escaped safely without a technical. But then he was T’d up by official Bennie Adams while on the bench. It was Green’s first technical foul of the playoffs.
Seven technicals in the playoffs would trigger a one-game suspension.
“Draymond has a loud voice and I didn’t even hear him say anything,” Brown said.
“I just said, ‘Bennie, that’s BS,’ ” Green said. “If that’s losing control of emotions, I don’t know.”
The Warriors were up by four at that point. After Durant hit a three-pointer, the Jazz, with the crowd roaring its approval, went on a 9-2 run to take a 50-49 lead into halftime.
“I don’t like to take credit like that,” Green said of whether he helped fire up Utah. “Maybe it did. Maybe it didn’t.”
Viewers were amused to see Matt Barnes talking to Green on the bench. Barnes isn’t exactly the epitome of calm and self-control. But he is a veteran.
“I realize the effect he has on this team,” Barnes said. “He takes it to the line and doesn’t cross it. I let him know, ‘They’re going to give it to you anyway, so get it out of the way.’ It was just that type of game. I felt early on he was going to get T’d up.”
Brown has been the one talking to Green most of the season. But now, with Brown in the head seat, he has other things to do. So the job goes to West, or Andre Iguadola, or Barnes.
“Draymond is a smart individual,” Brown said. “I don’t want to temper that emotion that he has. He gets our whole team going. He can handle it when it gets a little fiery.”
And, for most of these playoffs, Green has showed that he’s learning to take a step back.
“I got one, so I’ve got to lock in and do what I need to do,” Green said. “Do whatever the team needs. As you get older, you grow.”