Tuesday’s in-season tournament game between the Warriors and Timberwolves got chippy before either team had scored a single point.
As Kendra Andrews of ESPN details, Klay Thompson and Jaden McDaniels got tied up battling for rebounding positioning early in the first quarter, then continued to grab and shove each other on the way back up the court, prompting referees to stop play and Wolves center Rudy Gobert to try to intervene. Warriors forward Draymond Green rushed in and put Gobert in a headlock before players were separated (Twitter video link via Bleacher Report).
McDaniels and Thompson were each given two technical fouls and ejected from the game, while Green was also thrown out after being assessed with a flagrant 2 foul. As Anthony Slater of The Athletic relays (via Twitter), official Tyler Ford explained after the game that the referees viewed Gobert as a peacemaker. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr didn’t agree with that ruling or the decision to eject Thompson.
“There is no way Klay should have been ejected. That was ridiculous,” Kerr said, per Andrews. “I was upset about that. As far as the Draymond piece of it, Rudy had his hands on Klay’s neck. That’s why Draymond went after Rudy.”
McDaniels downplayed his role in the altercation following a Minnesota victory, telling reporters that after Thompson grabbed him, he was “trying to defend myself and get him off me.” McDaniels said he was “laughing” as it happened and that he didn’t expect the situion to escalate the way it did, adding, “I guess it was a bigger deal to (Thompson).”
Gobert, meanwhile, referred to Green’s actions as “clown behavior” and offered an explanation for the Warriors star’s early ejection: “Every time Steph (Curry) doesn’t play, (Green) doesn’t want to play without his guy Steph, so he does anything he can to get ejected.”
Here’s more on the Warriors:
- While a suspension seems extremely unlikely for Gobert, McDaniels, or Thompson, it’s possible Green – who has a history of facing fines and suspensions for on-court physicality – will face further punishment. “I do hope that the league is going to do what needs to be done,” Gobert said after the game in reference to an additional penalty for Green, according to Andrews.
- Kerr said the results of an MRI on Curry’s sore right knee were “good news” and that the two-time MVP is unlikely to be sidelined for an extended period, Slater writes for The Athletic. “Nothing alarming. So I would say he’s day to day and we’ll see,” Kerr said. “We’ll just have an update each day and let you know what’s going on. But it won’t be long. If he misses another game or two, whatever, it’s not going to be anything long-term.”
- The Warriors’ rotation without Curry, Thompson, and Green was “jumbled up,” Slater notes, but it gave Brandin Podziemski a chance to play a career-high 39 minutes. The rookie became the first Warrior besides Curry this season to score more than 20 points in a game, finishing with 23 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. Forward Dario Saric, who got his second start as a Warrior, also surpassed the 20-point mark, contributing 21.
- Tim Kawakami of The Athletic takes a closer look at Podziemski’s breakout game, suggesting that the No. 19 overall pick played with the sort of confidence and toughness that Golden State had been looking for. “He’s going to play,” Kerr said of Podziemski, who had previously logged 52 total minutes in six appearances. “He’s going to play every night. He’s earned that. He was incredible tonight. He’s been great in practice. There’s something unique about him at that size to rebound the way he does. He had seven tonight. He’s always in the right spot. He’s fearless. He connects the game. He plays the way we want to play. The ball moves when he’s out there. He’s attacking at the right times, he’s cutting at the right times. Defensively he’s really good. He’s a damn good player, so he’s going to play.”
- Even though the Warriors were without their three stars for nearly all of Tuesday’s game, Jonathan Kuminga only played 16 minutes and Moses Moody just 14, according to Slater, who says neither player has staked out a bigger role in the rotation so far this season. The path to increased minutes for the two former lottery picks may be further complicated by Podziemski’s rise, Slater adds.
Light the Beam!
Referring to the Sacramento kings? Trying to stoke a fire would be okay if the kings ever made a finals appearance, let alone won anything. They are lacking till that happens.
It would be better if you came in and wrote “Go nuggets” or “let’s go Lakers.”
I like the Kings and I like their players but bringing that prod to this Ranch does nothing.
Green is a thug. Gobert was trying to wrap klay up to calm the situation. Green, like always, just wanted to put his hands on someone. Kerr and the warrior announcers are friggin delusional. People in SF need to stop sniffing their own farts.
Do you believe McDaniels? He was not laughing he threw down Thompson and wouldn’t let go. Why didn’t Golbert grab his own player to calm him down?
Klay started the entire thing, he put his hand on McDaniels throat and grabbed his jersey and wasn’t letting go first so you could not be more wrong. And someone already was holding back McDaniels so again you are wrong.
drama queen stuff. There was no hand on McDaniels throat. McDaniels threw his hand on Thompson and Thompson put his hand on McDaniels fighting for position. Thompson let go and McDaniels didn’t. You also know McDaniels threw thompson to the ground and there was no hand on McDaniels. Golbert had no reason to hold back Thompson because it was McDaniels waving the elbows at Thompson.
You have the benefit of infinite post-fight analysis. In the heat of the moment, stuff happens. Not everyone is going to make the best available decision. But, clearly, Gobert was not trying to make things worse. If he wanted to deck Klay, what was stopping him? Except he didn’t.
McDaniels is such a BSer. He wouldn’t let go and through Thompson down. He was not laughing about it. Golbert restrained Thompson is why Green put him in a choke. Golbert is just embarassed he looked weak. Green is the guy you want to have your back in a fight.
You are delusional man. Gobert was just trying to calm the situation down and Draymond went overboard as usual. If you’ve ever watched sports you know that a teammate is going to try and restrain the opposing player. If they restrain their own teammate they’re creating a possibility of their teammate getting sucker punched.
So restraining Thompson is creating a situation for him being sucker punched is why Green restrained Golbert. So by your de own comment you admit Golbert was putting Thompson in a situation for being sucker punched.
You’re the biggest homer on the site. And that’s saying something.
Saying McDaniels was restrained when it was Golbert that wrapped up Thompson and NOBODY was restraining McDaniels. McDaniels also threw a elbow at Thompson. So question again why did Golbert grab a opposing player and not his own player?
So, what, you want a lengthy suspension for grabbing an opposing player in a manner intended to prevent further conflict? Not sure that’s going to sell.
Did you miss the part where Klay was grabbing at McDaniel’s jersey first?
Did you miss the forearm to Thompson chest that started it?
LOL, no.
Green should be suspended bc he went way beyond the level of aggression of the other players.
This was a simple minor dispute between Thompson and McDaniels, easily broken up by the refs, then Draymond went all Draymond and now he will be suspended.
Why people still defend this loser is beyond me. He lost a ring doing his BS and still didnt learn a lesson.
McDaniels who threw Thompson to the ground and was trying to injure a player should be suspended too. Thompson cleaerly let go and McDaniels was trying to injure a player with a history of knee problems.
How could McDaniels “throw Thompson down” when neither would let go of the other’s jersey? I’ve been a huge fan of Thompson for his entire career and I looked at the clip at first thinking McDaniels had an overblown reaction and that it was unintentional by Klay, but no you clearly seem him grab on to McDaniels’ collar and not let go.
Green should be charged with assault and do some prison time.
I’ve been a warriors fan because of Curry, a world class human being, but I cannot continue to support this team and the world class thug Green.
Buh bye.
I thought it was hilarious, calm down my guy…prison time…yikes
No Steph, no Draymond, one-legged Klay …… Kerr about to get exposed some more – he should feign a back injury or something.
Down 3 starting players and still almost beat a healthy team against them.
How is gonna get “exposed “by losing games without Curry, Green, or Klay? Without those three this team is awful. I could care less about Kerr, but some of the comments here are bizarre
There’s no middle ground with Kerr – he has a boatload of stars, he wins …… he’s down a star or two (see 19-20 season where he still had 2 All-Stars at most of that season), he loses.
Every team in the NBA has a boat load of stars. 19-20 season he had both stars missing over half the season and one missing all of the season. That season the aarriors played rookies and G league players most of the time. Just look at the roster. lakers lose one star and they are done. Clippers too.
Warriors fans absolutely delusional about the events last night. Klay initiates, Jaden responds, mob comes together to break things up as always, Rudy doing nothing harmful to Klay, Draymond demonstrates for the millionth time that he is a clown.
If Draymond doesn’t get involved or go for the chokeout, Klay and Jaden probably don’t even get ejected. Double techs, game goes on.
Maybe some truth to Gobert’s comments about Dray not wanting to be on the court without Steph and finding a way to get thrown out. If Curry is going to miss any more than last night’s game, maybe he wanted a short suspension too just to stay off the court while Steph recovers.
Either way not surprised to see it after CP3’s dirty dive right at Conley’s knees the other night. Klay/Dray/CP3 out here making Steph look bad.
Will give kudos to the rest of the Warriors though, they didn’t back down in that game. Wolves fell into a trap game and actually won it for once so good signs for them, but Warriors made it far from easy. Podz can play and should be in the regular rotation, may not be much longer before he’s playing better than Klay. Saric also had a really nice game, wasn’t a big fan of his time in Minnesota, never doubted he had some game but didn’t feel like we saw it there. Good to see him do his thing.
Excited for Jaden to have a full night’s rest going up against Suns tonight, he’ll be on KD so it’s needed.
I only see 1 delusional fan in here tbh
“Rudy had his hands on Klay’s neck”- no he didn’t, Steve. He had one arm over Klay’s shoulder and across his chest, and was trying to pull him away from McDaniels. The second-by-second photographic evidence is pretty clear, as are the video replays. He was barely holding onto Klay by the time Draymond got involved. Also, you were all-out screaming at Draymond to let go of Gobert, which was fully caught on camera. Total bs.
I don’t know which of McDaniels or Klay, started it, and frankly, I don’t care. They both went overboard and started a fight a minute and twenty seconds into the game. Replying to jockeying for position with a total overreaction and trying to throw down is worth an ejection imo. Doesn’t matter who started what. Draymond leaping onto Gobert’s back to put him in a chokehold is the bigger issue. That’s a minimum flagrant 2 regardless of anything else. Him getting ejected was exactly what should have happened.
Maybe you can quibble about Gobert not getting punished for getting involved, but Draymond was WAY out of line and got his deserved ejection. If that happened to, say, Kevon Looney by Dillon Brooks or something, Warriors fans would be out for blood. Defending Draymond is solely homerism. He’ll get a suspension; Warriors homers will say it’s too much, everyone else will say it’s too soft. Deal with it.
So why did Golbert restrain Thompson and not his own guy who was just standing there? Why not go in-between them?
“who was just standing there”
You answered your own question.
After Golbert grabbed Thompson watch the video where Thompson hands are at his sides then Golbert comes in and starts to wrap up Thompson and McDaniels throws a elbow at Thompson. Now if that happened to AD when your lakers were playing Grizzlies last night do you thinks Lakers would have went in to protect AD if a grizzly big man was holding him down? Answer truthfully.
I doubt they would’ve put a guy in a headlock and dragged him backwards, for starters. The fact that you think such an act is acceptable behavior reeks of bias or, at best, not appreciating how fast everything unfolded. Heck, Gobert had Klay wrapped up for like a second total, yet you act like it was a premeditated act which went on for minutes.
Pushing, pulling off, yelling at, all understandable in the heat of the moment. Headlock and drag is NOT. Next you’ll tell us Draymond was well within his rights to grab a chair and hit Gobert over the head with it. Anything to protect his guy—who wasn’t even being assaulted, by the way—right?
#1. If I see someone’s hands on my player, I’m going after that guy. That’s the way it works.
#2. It’s only if my guy is being aggressive, and the opponent is defending himself, that I go after my own guy and pull him away.
Simple stuff guys.
You can say homerism all you want but there’s plenty of anti-green at the same time. That’s fine we have our favorites and we have guys we don’t like. No problem.
Yes Green gets suspended for what he did. That’s obvious to anybody who watched. But if the same situation happens next week it definitely goes down again. I guarantee it. Why? See #1 and #2 above.
The warriors haters are pretending Golbert didn’t go after Thompson and McDaniels didn’t throw a elbow at Thompson. Why didn’t Golbert go in-between them? Thompson’s arms were at his side. Golbert escalated the events. Mcdaniels like a coward went after Thompson being restrained.
But a headlock? And dragging him backward several feet? Like, come on. That’s fairly serious stuff. I have no problems with Draymond going after Gobert given how fast the situation unfolded, but there are limits as to what should be acceptable conduct. If the league won’t tolerate a punch, it shouldn’t tolerate that sort of behavior either.
Also, it’s pretty clear from the video that Gobert went after Klay because Klay ended up in front of him as he got there and after the two had spun around a bit. If Jaden had been there instead, I think he grabs him instead of circling around to Klay, as it seemed his intent was to diffuse the situation ASAP. More importantly, if you’re going to give Draymond leeway in a situation like this, why shouldn’t Gobert get the same treatment?
Agreed, good points. But please know I’m not giving Draymond any leeway at all. I’m giving him a reason.
Thanks. And yeah, I see what you’re saying .Was partly responding to Arc above with that comment but was too lazy to make a separate one haha.
Whys everyone so worked up? Nobody got hurt and that was the best game of the year by farrrrr this whole year
We also got an awesome rivalry moving forward. ALWAYS good for the NBA
Look Minny is really good this year and GSW should be proud they hung that tough with all their studs down
That was a hell of a game from literally start to finish- The Rudy Superman block at the end, the Kat 3 then ofc him backing it up with a terrible 3 next trip to the Conley dagger …..All what makes the NBA great, what a show, what a time to be alive
Lets stop with all the hating and appreciate all the reasons why we love watching hoops. They were all on stage last night and it was freakin thrilling
Thank you GSW/MINNY from saving me from watching ( all of ) Santi Aldamas jacking up of 20 3’s last night
These Warriors fans defending Draymond should stick to watching the WWE where fake tough guys are allowed to be fake tough guys…