Draymond Green Fouled Joel Embiid Zero Seconds Into Game, and Everyone Was Confused

Draymond Green has a well-earned reputation for being the most physical player in the NBA, but the Golden State Warriors star outdid himself on Tuesday night against the Philadelphia 76ers. 

At the start of the game, Green lined up opposite Joel Embiid to take the opening tipoff, as he usually does for the Warriors. The taller Embiid won the tip, but Green put up a fight—too much of a fight, it turned out. The whistle immediately blew and Green was called for a foul before even one second had elapsed from the game clock. 

The instantaneous whistle led to all sorts of confusion in the arena. 

“We’re underway in San Francisco, but we’re going to get an issue right out of the gate,” TNT announcer Ian Eagle said, taking a second to figure out exactly what was going on. “It’s a foul on Draymond Green, with no time elapsed.”

The foul didn’t actually occur that quickly, though. The refs had to quickly conference and get the game clock reset to 11:58. 

The issues didn’t stop there, though. After the Sixers inbounded the ball to get the game going again, the game clock didn’t start running and play had to be stopped again. 

“Time has stood still,” Eagle quipped. “Really smooth start here at Chase Center.”