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Monday’s two technicals gave Draymond Green three for the season and 182 for his career, according to Elias Sports Bureau. This was Green’s first ejection of the season and the 23rd of his career. He had two ejections last season.
Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green was ejected in the third quarter of Monday’s 116-113 win over the Phoenix Suns after an incident involving the Suns’ Dillon Brooks and Khaman Maluach. With 10 minutes left in the quarter, Green collided with Maluach and went to the ground. Green got up and pushed the Phoenix big man to the floor, immediately getting whistled for a technical. Green then got into an argument with Brooks and was assessed another technical foul upon a video review, which also resulted in a technical on Brooks. “He lit a fire in all of us and we had to respond,” Warriors star Stephen Curry said after the game. “So I’m glad we did. It was a combination of that moment and we got to have our brother’s back when he defends us. But it was also this is one of those games, most of the guys are on a back to back. Phoenix had been off for a couple days … definitely that moment kept us in the moment.”
Anthony Slater: The Warriors will get Steph Curry and Draymond Green back tonight vs Suns. Al Horford is resting on second night of back-to-back. Gui Santos out. Brandon Williams questionable with a quad contusion. Phoenix has main cogs available besides Mark Williams.
Danny Emerman: Gui Santos, who’s been dealing with knee tendinitis, expected to play tonight vs Clippers. Warriors without Steph Curry and Draymond Green on the first leg of back-to-back.
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Another night, another milestone for Stephen Curry. The Golden State Warriors superstar moved up the all-time scoring list, passing a Hall-of-Famer Dominque Wilkins, while leading the Warriors with 31 points Friday night in their 112-95 win over the Lakers. Will Richard freed up Curry with a hard screen of Matisse Thybulle about four minutes into the fourth quarter, Curry received a pass from Draymond Green and buried a wide-open triple.
NBA Courtside: Draymond Green says he don’t see OKC competing for a championship this year after losing their second best player and best defender: “For them to lose two starters in onr night is absolutely insane. So I think the answer to that would be we saw that last year with JDub missed most of the year. They were still a really good team in the regular season as you see they just beat Phoenix a couple nights ago right after losing those guys. They’re a well oiled machine. So they’re still going to be one of the better teams in the NBA. However, when you get to the playoffs in certain levels of the playoffs, that’s when things like this get exposed.”
Draymond Green doesn’t believe this will be the end of his run. But he’s been around the NBA long enough to know nothing is certain. “I don’t,” he said after pondering the thought for a moment. “But I can never be too sure. But who cares? I don’t give a s—.” While Green isn’t dwelling on the possibility of an ending, Stephen Curry acknowledges that it’s impossible to ignore. “You acknowledge that this will end at some point,” Curry said. “Of course, you have it in the back of your mind because you know that there aren’t that many years ahead. “But we’re mature enough to know you can stay in the moment and just enjoy what we’re doing, what we’re trying to build and whatever happens, however it plays out, this is kind of inevitable. We’re close to the end, and that’s just part of it, so you can have it both ways. The thoughts of the end only make the urgency now more real and more motivating, if you will, because that’s all we can control.”
“My thought for the last three years or so has been this could be it,” Kerr said. “Because you just don’t know. You never know in the NBA. But particularly where we are as an organization. So I enjoy every second with these guys. What they do together, what we’ve accomplished together, it would be a shame not to savor it all.” Whatever the future holds, Stephen Curry and Draymond Green still have a shared understanding on the court that few teammates can match. Green describes their communication as “telepathic.” While he believes any pair of teammates can start to develop their own language within a year, what he and Curry have has taken 14 seasons to master. “Most people can speak, like, a different sentence in a different language,” Green said. “We can speak an entirely different language.”
Draymond Green Show: Draymond reacts to Ernie Johnson's retirement "Having an opportunity to work with Ernie on the set with those guys and I say this with all due respect, (Ernie) is the best point guard I've ever played with and that's no disrespect to the great Steph Curry... Ernie Johnson on a set is as incredible as they come... this guy is amazing and so I tip my cap to him heading into his last year."
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Curry signed a two-year extension before training camp, and Kerr has a new deal of his own. Green, meanwhile, has one year and $27 million remaining on his contract. He knows this could be the final season with the only NBA team he’s played for. But Green isn’t focused on how it all ends. “We’re not looking at it like that at all, man,” Green said. “I think the obvious situation is it could be it for me. Who f—ing cares if that’s it nine months from now? Who f—ing cares eight months from now?” Green doesn’t believe this will be the end of his run. But he’s been around the NBA long enough to know nothing is certain. “I don’t,” he said after pondering the thought for a moment. “But I can never be too sure. But who cares? I don’t give a s—.”
While Green isn’t dwelling on the possibility of an ending, Curry acknowledges that it’s impossible to ignore. “You acknowledge that this will end at some point,” Curry said. “Of course, you have it in the back of your mind because you know that there aren’t that many years ahead. “But we’re mature enough to know you can stay in the moment and just enjoy what we’re doing, what we’re trying to build and whatever happens, however it plays out, this is kind of inevitable. We’re close to the end, and that’s just part of it, so you can have it both ways. The thoughts of the end only make the urgency now more real and more motivating, if you will, because that’s all we can control.”
Steve Kerr chuckled at the memory. The Golden State Warriors had just wrapped up a training camp practice in Hawaii, and Kerr was standing near the corner of the gym on the BYU-Hawaii campus, retelling a story about the bond between his two longest-tenured players. Before the Warriors headed back to their five-star beach club for another night in paradise, the man who has coached Stephen Curry and Draymond Green for more than 12 years recalled a memorable moment from last season.
“Last year, in a timeout, Draymond turns to Steph, and he goes, ‘Let’s run Milwaukee,'” Kerr told The Athletic. “And I’m like, ‘What the hell is Milwaukee?’ I’m like, ‘We didn’t have a play called Milwaukee.’ And Dray was like, ‘Oh, no, no, sorry coach. That’s just our code word for an action that we do.’ And I’m like, ‘Ah, OK.’ “They ran it, and of course I recognized it. I knew exactly what it was. But that’s the level of communication between the two of them. And I guarantee you none of the other players on the team would have known what Milwaukee was, except for those two. It’s just one of their wrinkles out of their high ball screens. So that only comes with playing together for years and years.”
