OAKLAND–Three NBA players are tied for the league lead in technical fouls, and two play for the Golden State Warriors.
In the first quarter of a Christmas Day showdown with the Cleveland Cavaliers, neither Kevin Durant or Draymond Green were in the holiday spirit, as both players received technical fouls for arguing with officials to bring their respective totals to eight technical fouls apiece this season.
Durant and Green are now tied with New Orleans’ notoriously controversial center DeMarcus Cousins atop the NBA, as they were unable to make it more than seven minutes into Monday’s contest without drawing ire from the officiating crew.
Durant’s technical foul was assessed after he jawed with an official about a call involving an offensive foul he didn’t feel he deserved, while Green earned his in rather interesting fashion.
After Cavs’ guard Jose Calderon delivered a fiery, passionate protest in the face of an official following a foul call, Green was slapped with a technical foul by another official from across the floor.
“I just said how can he (Calderon) yell in his face like that and not get a tech?,” Green said.
The situation didn’t exactly enthuse Green, who indicated he was unfairly targeted given the behavior Calderon exhibit toward the officiating crew. Nevertheless, Green delivered an in-depth breakdown of the affair, and it’s worth watching.
“That’s crazy to me,” Green said. “Like, that looked like a shouting match between an umpire and a manager. Like that’s how it looked to me. You see, what they call the skipper. Come out and (yells), sometimes they get thrown out, sometimes they go back to the bench. He didn’t get thrown out, he just went back to the dugout. So I’m wondering how did he just get to go back to the dugout and not get a technical? I don’t know, but I got one. So it’s cool.”