Draymond Green ejected from game against Cleveland Cavaliers

SAN FRANCISCO — Draymond Green and Donovan Mitchell got into an altercation that led to Green’s second issued technical foul of the game and ejection mid-way through the third quarter of the Warriors’ loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.

Refs assessed the tech retroactively after a bizarre sequence of events. The brouhaha started when Mitchell body checked Green in the back as he took the ball up court. He was upset about Green pushing him from the back and knocked him into the seats a few plays earlier while trying to make a play on Caris LaVert’s layup. No whistle blew.

But refs rewinded back to the play while looking at the Mitchell push and altercation and called Green’s second tech of the game — Green was issued his first technical in the first half for arguing with referees over an offensive foul call — and Mitchell was issued a common foul.

“I had never heard of this rule,” coach Steve Kerr said. “But apparently you can retroactively call a technical on someone from two plays before upon review.”

Retroactive fouls aren’t unfamiliar territory for Green, who after the game recalled one of the most controversial official decisions in the Warriors’ dynasty history. During the 2016 Finals, the NBA handed down a days-late flagrant-1 on Green for appearing to kick LeBron James in Game 4, giving him enough flagrant foul points to suspend him for Game 5. The Warriors would go on to lose Game 5 and the next two to James’ Cavaliers.

“It’s the Draymond Green rules,” Green said to this news organization after the game. “It’s not the first time I’ve been retroactively called for a foul.”