The Golden State Warriors beat the Phoenix Suns 116-113 on Monday for their fifth straight win, but they had to finish it without Draymond Green.
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With 10 minutes left in the third quarter, Suns center Khaman Maluach knocked Green to the floor under the basket. Green bounced up, grabbed Maluach and threw him to the court after the whistle, earning a technical for what officials called a throwdown. Dillon Brooks then ran in to confront Green, and the two grabbed each other’s jerseys before being separated. After a review, officials gave both a technical. Since it was Green’s second, he was ejected.
“I was just trying to de-escalate it,” Brooks said. “He was just tweaking all game.”
One would think things would cool down after that. However, that wasn’t the case. Late in the game, Warriors center Charles Bassey and Jalen Green tied up fighting for a rebound under the basket, and Miles Bridges ran in and shoved Bassey. Bridges was given a technical for escalating the situation. Bassey, who had a career-high 19 points and eight rebounds, was not impressed.
“What they’re doing is so fake, that’s some fake toughness, man,” Bassey said to the media after the game. “Like I said, me and him, me and Green, we were going for the ball, jump ball, and then he just – I think Miles came and just pushed me.”
“You don’t have to do that, but I said, man, it’s so fake; there’s nothing that I could do about it. It’s cool; we got the win, so next team up.”
Bassey went on to state that toughness is about competing for the rebounds and playing hard on every possession. It doesn’t mean one has to get unnecessarily physical.
One of his teammates, though, saw Green’s ejection differently. Brandin Podziemski said it gave a slow-starting Warriors team the fuel it needed.
“I loved it. It fueled our team. We didn’t have that edge to us to start the game,” ‘Podz’ said in his postgame presser. “Found it a little bit in the second quarter, but then they came back out in the third quarter pretty well, and then that kind of changed the game for us.”
“Everybody locked in a little bit more and came together for Dray. I think it was needed and maybe he sensed it, maybe he didn’t, but it helped us.”
As Podziemski mentioned, the Warriors trailed 31-19 after one quarter, 57-51 at halftime and 67-57 when Green was ejected, and fell behind by as many as 17. From there, they outscored Phoenix, winning the third quarter 42-36 to tie the game at 93.
Stephen Curry, who started slowly, scored 18 points in the third quarter. He finished with 34 points, seven assists, and six rebounds, and made 11 of his 12 free throws. Devin Booker scored 26 for Phoenix before fouling out with 58 seconds left.
With the win, Golden State tied the San Antonio Spurs for the longest active winning streak in the league.
This was not Green’s first heated moment of the season. On Oct. 23 against Memphis, he got tangled up with Grizzlies center Zach Edey, and his finger caught Edey in the eye during the scuffle.
According to ESPN, Monday’s ejection was the 23rd of Green’s regular-season career and his 31st overall, including eight in the playoffs. He has three technicals in six games this season, well short of the 16 that would trigger an automatic suspension. The NBA hasn’t announced any further discipline.
With games against the Heat, Magic, and Pelicans coming up, the Warriors will need Green. It would be best if Green stays away from similar incidents in the near future. This will help keep Golden State’s winning efforts intact and their 5-game winning streak alive.