Watch Draymond Green get ejected on delayed call for shove of Donovan Mitchell

Draymond Green was already playing with one technical foul — basically standard operating procedure for him these days — when he went to work on getting under Donovan Mitchell's skin in the third quarter, trying to spark a Warriors comeback.

However, things got serious in the third quarter when Caris LeVert made a layup putting Cleveland up by 10, and on the play Green shoved Mitchell into the first row. There was no call. Green brought the ball back up the court and Mitchell ran right at Green and gave him a good hockey body check, which remains illegal in basketball. During the ensuing scuffle and afterward, Mitchell immediately pointed to the other end of the court and told the referees to check the video of what happened to instigate the play.

After a lengthy review, the referees agreed with Mitchell and gave the Cavaliers guard a common foul, but Green got a second technical and was ejected.

Steve Kerr was confused by the call after the game.

"I had never heard this rule, but apparently you can retroactively call a technical from two plays before upon review," Kerr said on the podium. "There's a lot of plays I'd like to go back to from three years ago. It was bizarre."

No it wasn't. Green flirted with the edge of ejection and got called out for it, and it wasn't that long after the play it just felt that way because of the scuffle and review. The shove of Mitchell was a cheap shot that bordered on a flagrant and Green is not getting the benefit of the doubt from the referees. It was not a clear-cut, no doubt ejection, but it was legitimate. Green, Kerr and Warriors fans are wrong on this one, flirt with the edge and sometimes you lose.

Green's ejection did not fire up the team or the fans enough to change the course of the game, a 118-110 Cavaliers win behind 22 from LaVert and 21 from Mitchell.

More concerning for the Warriors, they have had issues with the long, athletic defense of the Cavaliers, who have beaten them twice now (the other loss was to Denver, which also has size but also is just Denver). The Warriors' next two games are at the Chase Center against the hot Timberwolves, who are long, athletic and have the best defense in the NBA this season.