Draymond Green suffers 24th career ejection after hostile encounter with referee

Golden State Warriors player Draymond Green was ejected from Saturday's game against the Utah Jazz, marking his 24th career ejection and 22nd regular season ejection. It was also his second in the past eight games. 

Green is second in most career ejections among NBA players all-time, just five behind Rasheed Wallace who holds the record with 29. Green is also the leader among all active NBA leaders in technical fouls with 208, and passed Anthony Mason for seventh place on the all-time leader board on Saturday. Green needs three more to pass Dwight Howard and 60 more techs after that to pass Dennis Rodman and enter the top 5.

Green's most recent penalty was dealt after he played defense on Utah's Kyle Filipowski, who gestured to a nearby referee asking for a three-second violation to be called against Green. Green then let out an angry shout after the Jazz scored, prompting a technical foul. 

After the whistle, Green approached referee Kevin Cutler and appeared to loudly berate the official. A second technical foul was assessed shortly after that antic, and Green was out of the game. 

Green's teammates and coach Steve Kerr defended the oft-ejected player after the game. 

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"I didn't hear what he said, but it was a quick one," Kerr told reporters. "I know he got the T right away and then Kevin (Cutler) tossed him almost immediately. So I don't know what he said, but I assume it was something that Kevin just wasn't going to listen to. So I don't know anything more about it than that."

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Kerr added that the team "needs" Green on the court. 

"We need Draymond and I want him out there," Kerr said. "So I think he might be up to about nine techs. We're not halfway through the season yet, so a long way to go and we need him."

Warriors superstar Steph Curry suggested Green's actions did not warrant the ejection. 

"I don't know what he said to the ref," Curry said. "But I didn't think it was - the consensus in the locker room was there wasn't enough to get thrown out."

The Warriors won the game 123-114 to improve to 19-17. 

Green and Kerr previously got into a heated incident on the bench during their game against the Orlando Magic in December.

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