Teammates had to get between Draymond Green and Kevin Durant on the bench Monday night, as the two All-Stars had a heated exchange over Green’s blunder at the end of regulation.
Durant was visibly upset at Green for not giving up the ball with time running out, as the LA Clippers held off the Golden State Warriors 121-116 in overtime.
I approached Draymond on the way out and he respectfully declined to talk about the incident with Durant in the huddle. Draymond: "It don’t matter. Y'all are going to report what you want to report." https://t.co/b0uLLBHOXk
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) November 13, 2018
Neither player would publicly address the flare-up, but the Dubs brushed it off as merely “team spirit.”
Per The Mercury News:
“If I had that one back, I would’ve called timeout because it didn’t work out,” [Steve] Kerr said. “But that’s just a judgment call I make on the fly. We decided to let them go. We liked our momentum and we liked what we had on the floor. We liked what they had on the floor. It didn’t work out.”
Durant ducked out of the locker room before reporters were left in, which may have also stemmed from not wanting to express his frustrations for fouling out with 3:46 left in overtime. Green also declined respectfully to share his perspective on the incident to this reporter.
“It don’t matter,” Green said. “You all are going to report what you want to report.”
In fairness, Green and Durant have exchanged words before during games against Memphis and in Sacramento in the 2016-17 season. Since then, both Durant and Green considered it a good thing they aired their issues out openly.
“Just team spirit. Guys wanted a different outcome than what happened,” Warriors guard Shaun Livingston explained. “[Draymond] had a turnover. Guys thought they were open or wanted the basketball and didn’t get it. Things happen like that in a sport. But it was good to see some fire and some emotion.”
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