SAN FRANCISCO, CA– The Golden State Warriors secured a much-needed 119-116 win over the Phoenix Suns to snap a three-game losing streak. And they had to do so without Draymond Green, who was tossed early in the second quarter after receiving back-to-back technical fouls for shoving Suns guard Collin Gillespie and arguing with the officials afterwards.
Gillespie and Green's interaction began around the 10:45 mark after Green blocked the point guard's shot. The two exchanged words all the way up the court, as Stephen Curry hit a three-pointer, at which point Green ran through Gillispie, which triggered the initial technical foul from official Pat Fraher.
Green subsequently mimicked the technical foul sign back at Fraher and began yelling at the official. Green followed Fraher to the scorer's table, continuing to yell at the official while Moses Moody tried to usher him away. This prompted the referee to hit Green with his second technical, ending his night. Around thirty seconds of real time elapsed between Green's first and second technicals.
“I thought it was weak,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after the game. “He definitely deserved one. But he's walking to the bench and yells something, and the second technical– we just saw a guy on their team literally punch Steph in the stomach the other night. Premeditated, punches him in the stomach, and no ejection for that. Two nights later, refs got upset with some words from Draymond. I totally disagreed.”
The notorious Dillon Brooks
The guy Kerr referenced was Suns' wing Dillon Brooks, who has a well-documented history of antagonizing Golden State. In the Warriors-Suns game the previous night, Brooks hit Curry in the gut after a three-point attempt late in the fourth, which sent the Dubs' star to the ground writhing in pain.
The officials assessed Brooks with a flagrant foul, penalty one, but did not eject him from the game. The league upheld the ruling, characterizing the flagrant one as the correct call according to the official Last Two Minute report.
Kerr told reporters that the Warriors reached out to the league about Brooks' actions. He declined to share what the league explained to them. But the NBA did not fine or suspend Brooks for his actions, which drew Kerr's ire.
“How could you not be upset?” Kerr said. “This is a guy who broke Gary [Payton II]'s elbow in the playoffs, clotheslining him with one of the dirtiest plays I've ever seen. It's not like there's not a track record there. It's right there; they look at it. I don't know what the point of replay is if you're not going to kick a guy out for literally punching somebody.”
“It's bizarre to me that he was not, first of all, ejected for that, and then suspended or fined. Nothing? Nothing? So apparently, you are now allowed– this is my take– you are allowed to premeditate a punch of any shooter who is left defenseless. You can now take a swing at him and just get a flagrant one.”
How the Warriors won without Draymond Green
Curry said that Green's ejection “woke them up,” when they dealt with the sudden reality of their defensive anchor out for the rest of the game.
“We knew without him, we were gonna have to play even tougher, dig deeper down the rotation,” Curry said.
Deeper down the rotation emerged rookie Will Richard, who did not see the floor in the last three games as Kerr tinkered with the rotation. Richard finished with 20 points off the bench on 6-of-7 shooting and a perfect 4-of-4 from distance. He took Buddy Hield's minutes, whose offense has been quiet as of late, and gave the Dubs a much-needed spark off the bench.
And in the fourth quarter, the Warriors turned to their closers in Curry and Jimmy Butler. Curry scored 14 of his 28 points in the fourth while Butler finished an aptly timed And-1 to go up 5 with 54.6 seconds left. Butler finished with 25 points, another aggressive offensive night after Kerr said they needed more of his scoring.
After a series of letdowns in the clutch, the Warriors secured a much-needed victory and may have found something in the process.
“Tonight we realized what it's gonna take to win,” Butler said. “And honestly, I think we were all on the same page at how badly we wanted to win this one after the ending of the game in Phoenix. We came to a certain conclusion of like, we all gotta be in this thing together. We win 'em or we lose 'em, but we damn sure all know nobody mess with 30.”
It's only one win but turning this season around has to start somewhere. With two more games in this homestand, the Warriors will look to build on the narrow win.
