SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Warriors center Draymond Green was ejected two minutes into the third quarter of Golden State's 116-113 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Monday night for consecutive technical fouls.
"He lit a fire in all of us and we had to respond, so I'm glad we did," Stephen Curry said.
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Tempers flared again with 7:26 remaining in the game as players pushed and shoved, separated by security personnel. Miles Bridges received a technical as “a physical escalator” when he ran to the baseline area and pushed Golden State's Charles Bassey after Bassey kept his arms wrapped around Jalen Green's head after they fought for a rebound beneath the basket.
“That was a dumb time to get a technical,” Bridges said. “It would've been able to tie the game up. But it's a physical game, a lot of emotions, a lot of missed calls, a lot of calls that were called that shouldn't have been called.”
The previous period, Khaman Maluach had pushed Draymond Green to the ground in the paint moments earlier and the Golden State star jumped up from beneath and wrapped his arms around the Suns center and threw him to the floor. Dillon Brooks immediately sprinted in to enter the fray and approached Green, and they pushed and shoved. Green put his hand on Brooks' neck, and both received technicals.
“I was just trying to deescalate the whole thing,” Brooks said. “He did a lot there, fell down, and pushed him at the end of it. I was just trying to deescalate it. He was just tweaking all game. So let it be.”
The Warriors appreciated Green's fire.
“I loved it. It fueled our team," guard Brandin Podziemski said. "We didn't have that edge to ust to start the game. Found it a little bit in the second quarter and then they came 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. Maybe he sensed it, maybe he didn't, but it helped us.”
It marked Draymond Green's first ejection this season and 23rd of his career after he had two last season. He has 182 career technicals, three this season.
Maluach said Green was just playing like his intense self.
“I think it's just a basketball paly, he's just out there playing basketball,” Maluach said. “Nothing against Draymond, he's just playing basketball out there.”
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