"No, no, no. It's not frustration. I know how to work them [refs] so sometimes I have to pick up a technical to put them on notice that I'm watching everything they are doing because I know they are not going to give me two technicals to get me kicked out," said Green, who wasn't shy of straying deep into the court from the Rangers bench.
He clarified he was yelling at his son, Daniel Green, for travelling but referee Elliott Duncan thought it was directed at him.
More importantly, it was the timing with which the wily old campaigner interjected during play that slowly but surely started turning the game around for the visitors.
That sort of behaviour is born out of mutual antagonism and it can be a huge gamble because neither party can be sure they will come off best on a testosterone-fuelled basketball court.
Green, whose side had lost 101-95 to the Hawks in Te Awamutu on April 27, showed what a well-timed heckle can do to flip a game on its head.
"Unfortunately we were all too emotional - Lindsay's emotional, I'm too emotional - so it tends to hurt us at times," he said after benching linchpin Tait in the first quarter and not bringing the former Tall Black back until the third one.
However, 27 minutes was all Tait needed to destroy the Hawks with 26 points, six rebounds and five assists.
The Rangers had flipped the game in their favour in a 29-24 third quarter.
"Lindsay's a true professional. He understood what he was sitting down for and he knew what he was coming back to do and he did it," said Green, emphasising their "smallness" relative to other teams meant import guards Mitch McCarron and Earnest Ross Jnr had to get to work on the boards.
"If they did, like today, we're good," Green said. "If they don't, then we're in trouble."
He hastened to add the Rangers had "great D", taking a back seat as veteran skipper Dillon Boucher occupied the front bench to drive the point home in the third quarter.
"That's our hallmark. If we can play good D they can't stop us on the break because we're out and running," said Green, revealing they had done the same to stymie a revival by the Nelson Giants on the road on Friday evening.
He said the energy and enthusiasm of the young Hawks was noted but it was the Rangers' veterans who delivered.
Hawks caretaker coach Ben Hill labelled his troops' defensive effort and rebounding "absolute rubbish".
"I'm not too sure why they wouldn't be up for this game.
"I knew we beat them up there and knew they would have been hungry today," said Hill, who took over four games ago when Kirstin Daly-Taylor resigned suddenly.
The former Tall Black said his men's display was devoid of effort at the defensive end although American import centre Amir Williams was the only one to stand tall with a double-double 10 points and 14 rebounds.
So is Tait that good or was it the lackadaisical attitude of the Hawks that accentuated his input?
"It's really unacceptable, to be honest."
Hill said co-skipper Everard Bartlett carried the load with 25 points and was the only one to show up offensively.
He said Hawks point guard and co-skipper Jarrod Kenny was carrying a groin injury but had soldiered on for 38 minutes, albeit for just two points, but Darryl Jones was rushing his shots.
Joshua Fox, Tony Tolovae and Anamata Haku had better love from the rim (66-70 per cent) but Hill said haemorrhaging at the defensive end of the court appeared to be the major concern.
"If we can't get [defensive] stops, then we can't run," he said, echoing Green's mantra and lauding Fox but said he was in early foul trouble.
"Our rebounding is s**t. Amir's carrying that load," he said, questioning Haku, Tolovae and South African import power forward Grant Fiorentinos' commitment to the cause in that department.
"DJ got his five rebounds in the last quarter," he said of Jones, who got 17 minutes of court time.
Hill said he was screaming "D" at his players as well but it appeared to go in through one ear and out the other.
"I gave the guys a day off last Sunday, which probably didn't work in my favour but you can't train effort.
"You can train the basic principles but, when it comes to effort, you just can't train that because you're either going to have it or not. It was just a piss-poor effort tonight."
He lamented the absence of communication at both ends as well.
"They just weren't up for it. Credit to the Rangers because they came out all guns blazing after their win [on Friday night].
"They whipped our arse so our guys should be embarrassed with how they played."
Hill felt the officiating wasn't great but reconciled it with a 22-21 foul statement.
"We have to take a good look at ourselves. We're obviously not as good as they think they are and obviously the record shows that."
