Draymond Green: 'I Was Dead-A-- Wrong' For Double Technical Meltdown In Charlotte
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- It's been a few days, but Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green is still mulling over in his mind the jaw-dropping ending of Saturday night's loss to Charlotte.
The Warriors were on the brink of a win despite the loss of Steph Curry to an illness in pre-game warmups. But then Green picked up two technical fouls for arguing the outcome of a jump ball and was ejected with 9.3 seconds left and the Warriors up by two. Terry Rozier converted the two free throws and with the Hornets maintaining possession, Rozier hit an off-balance jumper from the left corner as time expired to give the Hornets an nearly improbable 102-100 victory.
On Monday, Green talked about those final seconds for the first time.
"As I sat and thought about the situation and reassessed, as I have had time to let the whole thing marinate and digest," Green said. "I was dead-ass wrong. And not that I was wrong like I said for the first technical. Whatever that situation is, once I have the first tech, I can't get the second technical."
"I was a bit disappointed," he continued. "I'm still a bit disappointed in myself because I think that whole situation bothered me. I know for sure it did. I know it bothered me more than being suspended Game 5 of the NBA Finals in 2016. The reason it bothered me more than that is because -- you can have your thoughts about the Game 5 situation, I for sure have my thoughts."
LeBron James baited Green into a technical in Game 4 and the Warriors star was forced to sit out Game 5 because he had accumulated too many technical fouls in the NBA playoffs. Golden State was up 3-1 at the time and seemed on its way to the club's second straight NBA title.
But the club lost its momentum and ended up falling to Cleveland in a deciding Game 7.
"This situation (Saturday night) I had complete control over," he said. "I let that control get away from me and in return I let the game get away from myself and my teammates. I think the reason it bothered me more was because obviously like I said -- your thoughts are your thoughts on the Game 5 situation, my thoughts are my thoughts."
"This young team, winning an NBA game is not easy," he continued. "This young team has not had -- the guys on this team have not had much experience with winning. So to take the game away from my teammates in which they worked so hard for was a bit frustrating for me because I let them down."
Green also said the meltdown came after he had spoken out last week about NBA teams sitting stars because they may be traded. Cleveland held out Andre Drummond in a loss to the Warriors, a game the Cavs had no chance to win without Drummond playing.
The Warriors star was critical of Cleveland for not giving its players a chance to win.
"When I think of the whole entire picture of all of this," he said. "If you type in (to a web search) Draymond Green before Saturday, the first clip you'll see is me talking about the Drummond situation. So to go from that situation to the next thing you would see of me is like two completely total ends of the spectrum. That's where the disappointment for me lies."
"It's embarrassing...I'm much better than that," Green continued. "I'm a completely different person than I was at 25 than I am at 30. So when I look at the person I am today, that (the Charlotte meltdown) should never happen. In saying that I can admit to my faults and when I'm wrong. And I was wrong."
