The Killers said it best: It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss.
On Monday night, during a matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors swingman Kelly Oubre knocked down a three-pointer and then received a technical foul for blowing a kiss in the direction of Montrezl Harrell. TNT commentator Reggie Miller, who loves to cite how the NBA is soft now compared to his heyday in the '90s, complained about the call.
"Come on now, you've gotta be kidding me," he said. "Man, this is ridiculous. You can't get a technical for that. I would've been out of the league in a year."
Normally, the retired pundits and their missives about how basketball has changed for the worse are annoying (and wrong!) But in this case, Miller is 100% correct. Getting a technical for miming a smooch is silly. Is it a form of trash-talking? Sure. It's also funny and not a big deal.
The Warriors have routinely been among the league leaders in technical fouls in recent years, thanks to the potty mouths of Draymond Green, Kevin Durant and Steve Kerr. Green's antics have even been documented with full-length compilation videos. (In fairness, most of those techs were legitimate... an exception being this Thursday versus the New York Knicks, when he was pretty clearly yelling at rookie James Wiseman and got tossed anyway.) Prior Dubs squads also had an antagonistic relationship with referees, though their bouts weren't instantly uploaded to the internet. Below, a few other classic Warriors techs — some memorable, some less so — with an SFGATE verdict on whether they were deserved.
Wilt Chamberlain vs. the Los Angeles Lakers, 1962
In 1961-62, Chamberlain casually averaged 50.4 points per game for the Philadelphia Warriors. He played literally every minute of every game, except for an eight-minute stretch against the Lakers on Jan. 3, 1962. The reason? As the New York Times recaps, referee Earl Strom gave Chamberlain a tech for some run-of-the-mill complaints, at which point Chamberlain allegedly “made reference to Earl Strom’s old mother... as cited in Gary M. Pomerantz’s book 'Wilt, 1962.”' He was ejected for that one.
Was the tech deserved?
Unfortunately, yes. If you make reference to the referee's old mother, you do in fact deserve a technical foul.
Baron Davis vs. the Utah Jazz, 2007
You know the play. Down 2-0 in the Western Conference semifinals vs. the Jazz after upsetting the Dallas Mavericks in round one, point guard Baron Davis detonates on Andrei Kirilenko. Pandemonium at Oracle Arena ensues.
What you may have forgotten is Davis got T'd up for... lifting his jersey, I guess?
Was the tech deserved?
Absolutely not. Not in this century, not in the last century, not ever, anywhere, on any planet. If you dunk on someone like that, you can generally do whatever you want for at least five seconds afterwards. In theory, you can give someone a tech for untucking their jersey, but it's a hardly enforced rule for obvious reasons. That moment was not one in which the rule needed to be enforced.
Don Nelson vs. the Portland Trail Blazers, 2010
It was the last game of the 2009-10 regular season, and the Warriors were down to five healthy players after starting center Chris Hunter got injured five minutes into a matchup against the Trail Blazers. Then Devean George fouled out, meaning Golden State was down to four options. So head coach Don Nelson crafted an ingenious plan: he brought Hunter and two other banged-up players into the game one at a time to commit a foul and eject themselves from the contest due to injury. At that point, NBA rules allowed George to return with six fouls, and a technical foul penalty was assessed (the team would've received another tech for every foul George committed).
Somehow, the Warriors won anyway. Steph Curry dropped 42, and Nelson told reporters, "[The team] thought it was the greatest game they ever played in, to do something like that. You know what? They might be right." Three titles later, Curry presumably no longer believes a regular season game vs. the Trail Blazers was the greatest he's ever played.
Was the tech deserved?
By the letter of the law, yes. In actuality, no. It was a crazy, wonderful tactical move by Nelson, and he only deserves credit for it.
Shaun Livingston vs. the Miami Heat, 2017
Livingston missed one of his trademark midrange jumpers, and then confronted referee Courtney Kirkland in a manner that I would not recommend. He was quickly tossed.
Was the tech deserved?
Kirkland gets some blame for this one too — and in fact both he and Livingston were served suspensions post-game — but yes, it's an obvious technical foul. You cannot head butt a referee and get away with it.
David West vs. the San Antonio Spurs, 2018
Technical fouls from the bench are nothing new. Technical fouls from the exercise bike by the tunnel? That's a little different.
During the 2018 playoffs against the Spurs, it appeared that West managed to pull off the aforementioned feat whilst keeping his legs warm. However! This one isn't so cut-and-dry. West was sitting on the bench, then ran to the bike after what he deemed to be a bad call against JaVale McGee. His teammates argued that West usually runs to the bike a few minutes prior to his appearances, so if the officials took the location change as a showing of disrespect, they were overreacting.
Was the tech deserved?
No one will ever know, except the refs and West, which is kind of beautiful. For that reason, I refuse to weigh in either way.
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Kelly Oubre's kiss, Draymond Green's teammate tantrum, and other wild Warriors technical fouls - SFGate
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