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Draymond Green is not afraid of technical fouls: 'Next time I dunk, I'm gonna yell again'

Draymond Green lets 'em know. (Getty Images)
Draymond Green lets ’em know. (Getty Images)

You’re not allowed, in the NBA, to hang on the rim after throwing down a dunk. You’re not allowed to slap the backboard on your way down from a dunk, and you’re not allowed to taunt an opponent after finishing a slam. Each of these infractions will result in a technical foul, the result of a cadre of athletic NBA players getting a little too out of hand with the post-flush celebrations in the early and mid-1990s.

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On Tuesday night’s Golden State Warriors season opener, All-Star Draymond Green appeared to decline on slapping the glass or hanging on the rim after tossing in a dunk in the third quarter, but the referees apparently thought his jawing in the direction of San Antonio big man LaMarcus Aldridge was a bit much for the setting, and gave him a technical anyway.

Draymond, via Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area, doesn’t plan on limiting his post-stuff conduct any time soon:

“Next time I dunk, I’m gonna yell again,” Draymond declared after the loss. “I mean, it’s kind of universal. I’m gonna continue to be me, and whatever happens, happens.”

[…]

“I know how to be me way better than I know how to be anyone else. So I’ll just continue to try and work on being me, which really don’t take much work.”

Via Pro Basketball Talk, here’s a shot of the dunk:

That’s rather innocuous, but also understand that the Warriors drew to within 10 points after Green’s dunk, with just under nine minutes to go in the third quarter. For the Warriors, just under nine seconds to go in the contest represents a manageable distance between the current time and the end of the contest, even while staring down a double-digit deficit.

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The Spurs went on to hit the technical free throw before moving on to a 25-11 run following the freebie. San Antonio eventually took the game in decisive fashion by a 129-100 score.

It would be very sportswriter-y of us to suggest that the single point that Draymond Green’s iffy technical foul resulted in for San Antonio led to the loss, as the Warriors were getting slapped around in this contest for myriad reasons (with a few of them having to do with Draymond Green missteps, like refusing to get back on defense in a very prominent way). Still, despite a slow’ish start, Green offered up 18 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, five steals, a block and just two turnovers in 32 minutes of action. This remains All-Star level production.

He’ll have to watch it, though.

Not since the then-Ron Artest returned to the NBA as a marked man during the 2005-06 season has an NBA player had this much of a bull’s-eye affixed to his person. Draymond Green may have cost the Golden State Warriors a championship in 2015-16 after being suspended for Game 5 of the NBA Finals for swiping at LeBron James’ wedding tackle, the last straw after a series of warnings from the NBA about “inadvertent” (your resulting conclusions may vary) about hits to an opponent’s groin.

Accruing 16 technical fouls over the course of a season results in a one-game suspension, and the penalties only become stiffer from there. Draymond, technically, isn’t on pace to land 82 technical fouls this season – at this rate he’d be out for game No. 17, then out for games No. 20 and No. 21 after receiving technical fouls in games 18 and 19. The Warriors aren’t exactly hurting for All-Stars on the front line, but they would like to see this potentially record-setting arc curbed a bit.

Which is why, with that laser focus following him everywhere, Green does need to save his chomps and chants for a regular season that still has nearly six months to go. Draymond has to find a way “to be me,” including those yells, that won’t convince the referees that he is out to toss it in some opponent’s face.

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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!