Draymond Green’s ejection early in the second quarter of Saturday’s game wound up being a turning point for the Warriors, who rallied for a win over Phoenix, writes Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. Golden State trailed by 11 points when its volatile leader was tossed for picking up a pair of quick technical fouls, but the sequence sparked a rally that led to the end of a three-game losing streak.
“Sometimes we take advantage of Draymond, what he does for us, and we count on him to clean up everything,” Gary Payton II said. “But once he’s out of there, we know we all got to come together and do it collectively. I think everybody felt that. And when we’re doing that as a unit, we can be pretty damn good.”
Green got his first technical for pushing Suns guard Collin Gillespie in transition (YouTube link). The next one came seconds later when Green taunted lead official Pat Fraher, resulting in an automatic ejection.
Phoenix scored 44 points and registered five dunks in the first quarter, according to Poole. The Warriors’ defensive effort picked up after the incident as they held the Suns to a combined 31.8% from the field in the second and third quarters.
“I think it woke us up,” Stephen Curry said. “Because we knew without him, we’re going to have to play even tougher, dig deeper down the rotation. I think everybody was kind of on alert and trying to have his back.”
There’s more on the Warriors:
- Coach Steve Kerr called Green’s ejection “weak” on the part of the officials and compared it to an incident from the teams’ prior matchup on Thursday, per Nick Friedell of The Athletic. Kerr is still fuming about a play late in that game where he claims Dillon Brooks hit Curry with a “premeditated” punch to the stomach. Brooks was assessed a flagrant 1 foul after a video review, but wasn’t ejected. “How can you not be upset? This is a guy who broke Gary’s elbow in the playoffs, clotheslining him with one of the dirtiest plays I’ve ever seen,” Kerr said. “So it’s not like there’s not a track record there, and it’s right there, they look at it. I don’t know what the point of replay is if you’re not gonna kick a guy out for literally punching somebody. It’s bizarre to me that he was not, first of all, ejected from that game, and then suspended or fined. Nothing. Nothing.”
- In an interview with Zena Keita of “The Athletic Show,” Kerr expresses gratitude for being able to coach Curry and Green for so long, relays Jordy Fee-Platt of The Athletic. Kerr reveals that he nearly worked out a draft-day deal to bring Curry to Phoenix in 2009 when he was serving as general manager of the Suns. Kerr also states that even though he’s in the final year of his contract, he has no plans to retire while Curry is still active. “I will never leave Steph Curry,” he said.
- Rookie guard Will Richard contributed 20 points in the victory, but he only played because Kerr chose to end Buddy Hield‘s long streak of consecutive games, Poole notes in a separate story. Hield was a healthy scratch for the first time since joining the Warriors last season. “I told him beforehand, I feel terrible, he had a streak of 199 games in a row, it was one of the longest streaks in the league and one of the things I love about Buddy is he’s there for you every single night,” Kerr said. “He’s the greatest teammate ever and just an amazing spirit and a key part of our team, and it felt terrible not to play him, but I sat Will the last five or six games and we needed to get him back out there and you can see why. Buddy’s time will come back around, it always does. He has got the right attitude, he’s going to keep working and getting shots up and I know things will work out for him.”
Collin showed Green’s lack of control. Collin gives a shoulder shove on the start of play knowing Green would explode. Green should have kept his cool but instead does a low IQ shove back. green embarassed himself again.
kerr should not feel bad about benching Heild he has been horrible for about 75% of the games this year. Kerr problem is playing the same under performing vets instead of the young players. The best lineuop should be playing not favors for the old vets.
The ref Pat Fraher bet on the under for minutes played by Draymond Green. Better check his mgm account Silver, before the FBI does.
Draymond! Gillespie stopped running up the floor to create contact with Dray. But Draymond’s reaction was begging for the T and then he just lost all control. The Suns are super chippy, but Draymond should be able to stay on the floor against these kinds of opponents. He’s headed for a bench role if he can’t improve his on court production.
First time watching the Warriors?
He can’t let Gillespie or Brooks bounce him out of a game. There are times where Dray’s shtick is useful, but last night was not one of those times.
First time watching Warriors …..?
Rings baby. Knicks still grasping.
Since you talk history. Our History is as rich as anyones in NBA.
Knicks are still chasing Titles. Warriors chasing their tail lol ………..
I thought the Green comment was funny. Only been doing it 13 yrs ….
Last I recall, Warriors caught some titles! Warriors may be in a slump, but nothing like the Knicks title drought. Good luck to you. I like the Knicks, as a franchise and as currently constructed.
I know there are too many dubs voices on this platform, and it probably gets tiresome to some of the posters, but I get a little irked around the Draymond stuff. He’s an easy target but he has been a huge contributor to the Warriors four titles, second only to Steph, and probably just ahead of Kerr and Klay.
Who would have thought the Warriors were going to better without their worst player
I hate the “you don’t know ball” take, but if you actually think Draymond is the Warriors worst player you have a very limited understanding of how this game is played.
Also, the Warriors were not exactly good last night.
In Draymonds eye’s it was all part of the master plan and via design for the win. Business as usual.
– No plans to retire? So it’s on Lacob to end this madness then. “I will never leave Curry” the mans knows he is nothing but a coattails rider at least…
– Draymond is clearly no longer a starter in this league. He has slowed down, his passes aren’t sharp anymore and he is still getting ejected in year 13 the same as year 3. He’s 35, it makes sense, this is the year almost all players slow down. Dray’s slowing down makes everything look much worse numbers wise because so much of the Warriors play runs through him. Funnily enough Jimmy is still just fine and is showing no signs of slowing down, he could easily shift into that Draymond role of being the main facilitator and monster on defense.
– Time to use Dray 15 MPG, bursts only and work on those Jan 15 trades. Make him disrupt on defense, then bring him out before he turns it over. Kinda like how they should be using GP2. MDJ better work on that trade, he clearly is making the team worse the more minutes he gets.
-Typical GP2 the nepo telling us all we need Dray for vibes, even though that led us to a 13-15 record. We want to win games, we aren’t doing that because of the players and coach. Things have to change.
-Will Richard getting benched for absolutely no reason when he is the best SG on the team right now is pure malpractice. How come Kerr doesn’t know who his best players are? He seems to think Podz and GP2 are his best players, that is incorrect, they are closer to spots 13-15 than the top 5, like Kerr believes they are. We all saw the easiness of Richards’ game, how well he fits next to Steph, how clutch and big shot-making a guy he is…yet DNP so Podz can get 30 mins a game to put up 11 points at SG? Nope. Kerr and Podz gotta go. Play Will Richard 35 mins a game from here on out.
Who would want to trade for Dray? He would be even less effective on another team. As for Richard and Spencer, Kerr believes more in Hield…
Green will not get traded so you have 1 more season before he retires.
A team acquiring Draymond would be using his salary as cap space, and would be free of it in a year. The Pistons are a nice match as long as he is ok with being a part time player, leading the 2nd unit.
Virtually any other player would have received two T’s. But the tantrum was vintage Green and he’s gotten away with it dozens of times – maybe that is Kerr’s branch mark for the “weak” comment…
I didn’t think they were allowed to play basketball in Singapore. How would you know?
Draymond has the ability to be a starter for the Warriors but he’s got to adjust to his limitations. This team has a run left in it, even without a trade, but a lot of things will have to go right, and Draymond is one of those “things.” By “run” I don’t mean championship, I mean a winning season and another play-in.
> Kerr also states that even though he’s in the final year of his contract,
> he has no plans to retire while Curry is still active. “I will never leave
> Steph Curry,” he said.
And there you have THE HEART OF THE PROBLEM. Kerr’s loyalty is to Steph avove all else, including: wins, the other players on the team, development of young players, etc.
Until Kerr is gone, GSW won’t diversify teh offense, won’t acquire players that aren’t suited to optimizing Steph (esp, bigs), and GSW continues to squeeze the last gasp from the oldest lineup in NBA history.
What is Kerr supposed to do with this lineup? Of course they have to build the team around Steph. And the whole operation has revolve around him. The dubs are going nowhere without making Steph the center of everything.
What’s tunny is Warrior fans thinking they can tell Green something. He is one of smartest players of his generation. Yes he is slowing down as a player. He is who he is. And sometimes he toes that line. And gets caught on the other side. Dum move yes. Yet he gets away with so much more. I know you don’t cry about that. When it works for the team.
smh
Yup. That is exactly what I’m talking about. Draymond has never been a physically gifted player, his greatest asset is his understanding of the game and communicating to his team-mates and coaching staff what they must do to win games, series, rings. Oh, and he is hard as hell.
Curry is about to ask for a Trade.
Even though 99% chance that never happens the haul teh warriors would get would be 3 1st round picks and 2 swaps. Every playoff team would want to add him making them the instant favorites. Even OKC would be wanting him.