OAKLAND, Calif. (97.1 The Ticket) — The Twitter trolls were out in full force Thursday night, jumping all over Draymond Green after the Toronto Raptors beat his Golden State Warriors to win their first NBA title in franchise history.
Steph Curry missed a contested 3-pointer off an inbounds play as the clock wound down, and a scrum for the loose ball ensued. Green wound up with the ball in the back court and called a timeout with less than a second left on the clock. He was hit with a technical foul, as the Warriors had already burned their final one.
The former Michigan State Spartan caught tons of flak on social media, as many were quick to compare him to Michigan's Chris Webber, who committed the same mistake in the 1993 national championship game against North Carolina.
It should be noted, however, circumstances weren't quite the same. There likely wasn't enough time for the Warriors to put something together -- whether they had a timeout or not -- whereas Webber called timeout in a panic with 11 seconds left. To be fair, the timeout may have actually helped the Warriors in theory. The clock would have run out had he not done so, and stopping the clock extended the game briefly with just a sliver of hope for a miracle.
That didn't stop the trolling, though.
----------------------------------------------Draymond Green with the illegal timeout in the NBA finals... pic.twitter.com/GCWBfkpc1R
— Due# (@JDue51) June 14, 2019When Draymond Green sees Chris Webber pic.twitter.com/XBOCO6Q8Y5
— NOTSportsCenter (@NOTSportsCenter) June 14, 2019Draymond Green calling timeout when the warriors didn't have any timeouts is exactly how I wanted this series to end pic.twitter.com/hlBsk8pDEX
— Neil Princic (@nprincic31) June 14, 2019Don't worry, Chris Webber caught a ton of heat, too.
Chris Webber don't look at twitter tonight
— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) June 14, 2019Golden State doesn't have a timeout. Chris Webber lives!
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) June 14, 2019Honestly, Golden State deserves a ton of respect for using their final night ever at Oracle Arena to deliver a touching tribute to Warriors legend Chris Webber
— sreekar (@sreekyshooter) June 14, 2019Chris Webber watching Draymond call timeout like pic.twitter.com/4Depn29W3G
— The Rush (@therushyahoo) June 14, 2019And much like the Webber incident, Green wasn't the only one thinking about a timeout.
Lotta Chris Webber fans on Golden State pic.twitter.com/YeS0L4pToK
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) June 14, 2019
