An Immediate Foul Call On Draymond Green Causes Confusion

Maybe it’s because his reputation precedes him or an actual foul was actually committed, but it was hard to tell at the start of the Golden State Warriors and the Philadelphia 76ers matchup on Wednesday night.

According to Sports Illustrated, the game wasn’t even in play for two seconds and a referee blew the whistle. The two opposing players lined up at center court were the Warriors’ Draymond Green and the 76ers’ Joel Embiid. When the referee threw up the ball to start the game, an immediate whistle was blown and the players on the court seemed confused hearing it. As they all looked around, it was then realized that Green was hit with an immediate foul call after Embiid caught the toss-up.

As the players regrouped and the ball was being taken out by 76ers’ Danuel House Jr., it seemed as if the clock wasn’t even started when the foul was called. The clock was still at 12 minutes left with no time taken off. So, another whistle was blown after several seconds when one of the refs realized that no time lapsed on the game clock nor had the clock started. A referee headed to the scorer’s table and had the timekeeper take two seconds off to start play correctly at 11:58 to play in the quarter.

A replay of the opening tipoff revealed that Green hit the shoulder of Embiid as the 76ers center grabbed the ball.

Green is back in the regular rotation after being suspended indefinitely last year on Dec. 14, 2023. He was reinstated by the league on Jan.6 after he “demonstrated his commitment to conforming his conduct to standards expected of NBA players” while serving his suspension.

The 76ers ended up losing to the Warriors, 119-107 at the Chase Center in San Francisco. Meanwhile, the Warriors defense held Embiid to only 14 points on 5-for-18 shooting and eight turnovers a week after he scored 70 points in a game last week.

An Immediate Foul Call On Draymond Green Causes Confusion