Draymond Green seemed to have found a balance between anger issues and violent outbursts on-court after coming back from suspension. But when facing their rivals, the Memphis Grizzlies, temperatures tend to rise for the Warriors. Green was involved in another tussle with Desmond Bane. Talking to reporters post-game, Steve Kerr couldn’t hide his relief at things not escalating beyond control, even though the shoving contest resulted in opposing head coach Taylor Jenkins taking a tumble.

As diplomatic as he is, Coach Kerr had an interesting take on the whole incident. NBA reporter Kendra Andrews tweeted his reply on X. “We have a history with (the Grizzlies). It’s always very competitive … when we play them there’s usually some kind of dust up. I hated to see what happened because it looked like (Jenkins) was really hurt … he said he was fine. No harm done, but it was a scary moment.”

It definitely was scary. Given the situation of the Golden State Warriors right now, losing Green so close to the play-in could be the easiest route to certain defeat. Coach Kerr is only too aware of it. Painfully aware, if you will. The Dubs have a defensive rating of 113.9 with Dray on the floor and 122.0 without him this season.

But then again, Kerr’s claims of the Grizzlies-Warriors beef do have substance to it as well. After all, Dillon Brooks made sure to keep the smoke up against Draymond Green before he moved to Houston.

The Warriors-Grizzlies “history”

The problems between the two started back in 2021. The Dubs were in somewhat of a similar situation then – fighting for a spot in the play-in. In the final game of the regular season, Stephen Curry and Co. won. But Memphis wasn’t done with them yet. The play-in saw the two face-off again, only for the Grizzlies to send GSW packing.

Draymond Green on Grizzlies Brawl: “They Were Trying to Get Me Thrown Out..”

The next instance happened when Jaren Jackson Jr. took to X to mock the Golden State’s “strength in numbers” slogan during the 2021-22 season. The Grizzlies had defeated the Dubs in the regular season just then. But we all know how the Warriors keep scores, down to the decimal.  Both teams met again in the Western Conference Semifinals, where Game 2 saw Brooks ejected for an altercation with Gary Payton II which resulted in a broken elbow for the latter.

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The Warriors went ahead and won the series 4-2 and ultimately, the championship. Klay Thompson immediately brought up Jackson’s tweet from earlier in the presser, calling him a “freaking bum,” and quickly remembering that he was in front of camera, promptly rephrased it to “clown”.

This back-and-forth kept happening until 2022-23 season saw the ‘Villain’ Brooks explain in detail about his dislike for Green and the Warriors. In an interview with ESPN’s Tim Keown, he practically spat out his disdain. “I don’t like Draymond at all. I just don’t like Golden State. I don’t like anything to do with them. Draymond talks a lot. Gets away with a lot, too.” 

Dillon Brooks might have left the Grizzlies, but the bad blood between them and the Warriors is still boiling. But tonight, it was sheer luck that saved them from a potentially costly suspension.