Call it awkward, dramatic, or common, but tempers flared when the Golden State Warriors hosted the Orlando Magic. And no, it wasn’t between the teams. The tensions were concentrated in the Dubs huddle. Not so subtly, Steve Kerr and Draymond Green argued. It culminated with Green walking himself out of the game as his team beat the Magic 97-120.

After the game, both sides spoke out. While Steve Kerr downplayed it, Draymond Green was honest about why he left the game.

“Tempers spilled over,” he told reporters. “And I just thought it was best that I get out of there. I don’t think that was a situation that was going to get better… It was just best to remove myself.”

The incident happened during a timeout in the third quarter. Kerr and Green had a very animated argument that was not audible. But it looked ugly. Even Moses Moody tried to defuse the situation unsuccessfully and sat down.

Instead of returning to the bench, Dray left for the locker room. He had played for less than 20 minutes and had 9 points.

Unlike what he said, the situation did somewhat get better. The Warriors were trailing the Magic, but after Green left, they went on a 41-18 run and won the game! Not really connected to the argument, though.

Frankly, we don’t know that. Because neither will reveal what caused that blow-up.

Draymond Green is over the friction with Steve Kerr

When asked what caused that argument, Green claimed, “Basketball.” One of his rare moments of evasive diplomacy.

As intense as it looked on the outside, though, it appears no hard feelings are lingering, Green said, “When you’re with people for a long time, there’s a level of comfort and s— happens. We move forward.”

He, however, has not had a level-headed talk with Kerr as of this moment because the head coach had to address the media.

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“We got into it, obviously, and I took the timeout because I thought we lost our focus. We had it out a little bit, and he made his decision to go back to the locker room and cool off, and that’s what I’ll say about it. Everything is private, and nothing further than that. He wasn’t coming back in,” Kerr said.

He had returned to the bench in the fourth quarter, but Kerr decided not to put him back in the game. Irrespectively, Green said, “I’m never going to quit on my teammates.”

But Kerr’s decision to keep him on the bench did not hurt him. He also hinted that his back’s a bit stiff, which is worrisome ahead of the Christmas Day matchup against the Mavericks.

Kerr naturally won’t spill the locker room deets. But Draymond Green has previously admitted there’s some frustration going around. The Dubs have lost five of their last 10 games and are 15-15 now.

Only a day ago, Dray was ejected after getting two techs in the loss against the Suns. Steve Kerr was fuming on that second tech and went to bat for him. Green doesn’t think the frustrations from the last game had a role to play tonight.

But leaving the game, Dray felt, was the best move for him at the moment. He’s open to a calmer private discussion, but realistically, both have moved on and are focused on keeping the momentum going.