Draymond Green accuses NBA referees of ‘agenda’ after Game 2 technical foul originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Draymond Green feels he is being targeted by NBA officials, and he has had enough of the treatment he feels is biased.

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He demonstratively expressed his feelings to reporters in the locker room Thursday night after the Warriors’ 117-93 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinals.

“I’m not an angry Black man,” Green said. “I’m a very successful, educated Black man, with a great family. And I’m great at basketball. Great at what I do. The agenda to try to keep making me look like an angry Black man is crazy. I’m sick of it. It’s ridiculous.”

This is the outburst of a man who feels persecuted.

There is an undercurrent of belief around the league that Green’s history of fines and suspensions has resulted in different and less lenient rules for him than his fellow players. Some believe it – Draymond obviously does – but others do not.

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This comes four days after Green made an impassioned statement rededicating his commitment to his teammates and his craft. And it followed a technical foul that he responded to with enough fury for the Warriors to send a platoon to de-escalate the situation.

After officials’ crew chief Tony Brothers assessed, upon review, a technical foul on Green for a flailing left arm that landed on the face of Minnesota’s Naz Reid with 8:46 left in the second quarter, Green’s reaction prompted Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and coach Steve Kerr to take turns interceding.

Kerr ultimately opted to put Green on the bench for the next six minutes in hopes he would cool off.  There were no more flare-ups for the remainder of the game, but Draymond’s postgame statement is proof that he still was simmering.

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This was Green’s fifth technical foul in nine postseason games. A one-game suspension hits after a player reaches seven. He also has two flagrant fouls on his ledger, and four of those also warrant suspension.

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