Hornets stun Warriors after Draymond Green's late ejection; Steve Kerr says forward 'crossed the line'

Tom Gatto

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Hornets stun Warriors after Draymond Green's late ejection; Steve Kerr says forward 'crossed the line' image

The Hornets stunned the Warriors with a Terry Rozier buzzer-beater Saturday night in Charlotte. It was as anticlimactic a game-winner as you'll see, though, because of what happened in the seconds just prior to the shot.

For Rozier to even be able to attempt that shot, Charlotte first needed to:

— Control a jump ball at center court.

— Get a timeout after Gordon Hayward gained possession but before he was tied up on the floor by Draymond Green.

— Hit two game-tying free throws after Green was ejected for arguing the timeout call. Yes, the officials ran Green in that situation.

MORE: Green calls out NBA for double standard with players

Rozier made the technical free throws with 9.3 seconds to go and then, with Charlotte still in possession, hit from the left wing as time expired.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr was direct with his criticism of Green's actions. 

"He crossed the line, that's the main thing," Kerr said in his postgame call with reporters. "We love his passion and his energy. We would not be the team we are without him. But that doesn't give him license to cross that line, and he knows that." 

Golden State forward Eric Paschall told reporters that Green did express regret after the fact. (LANGUAGE WARNING on the first tweet below.)

As to the reason for the ejection, officiating crew chief Mark Davis told a pool reporter after the game that Green received the first technical for "verbally taunting an opponent" (Davis did not identify the player Green taunted) and the second technical for directing "screaming profanity" at an official.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.