Green gets ban for KD dustup
Kerr says team dealt with All-Star spat and moving on
OAKLAND >> After Draymond Green lost his cool, even by his combustible standards, the Warriors silenced their outspoken forward the only way possible Tuesday night. They suspended him for one game as punishment for his heated argument with Kevin Durant, leaving the Warriors to confront public infighting for the first time during this championship era.
Cameras captured
Green and Durant jawing at the end of regulation against the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night. The heated dispute continued long after the Warriors lost 121-116 in overtime — this time with no cameras rolling.
Whatever happened was enough for general manager Bob Myers and coach Steve Kerr to lay down punishment for “conduct detrimental to the team” — and only Green took the hit. As part of missing the Warriors’ game against the Atlanta Hawks, the seventh-year veteran was dinged a $120,480 game check. Durant was not disciplined.
Green was not at Oracle Arena on Tuesday, as per rules of the suspension, but Myers and Kerr both addressed the issue before the game.
“Basketball is an emotional sport,’’ My-
ers said during a jampacked news conference. “These things happen. We dealt with it in the manner we thought fit. So we’re going to move on.”
Kerr and Myers mostly avoided delving into specifics, stoically dismissing the incident as a private matter. But Kerr made an exception to address one specific theory headon, showing some fire in response to a question about whether Durant’s non-committal approach to impending free-agency is “festering” in the locker room.
“Not the slightest bit,’’ Kerr said. “Nobody ever talks about Kevin’s free agency. It doesn’t bother any of us.”
It wasn’t a factor, not even in this situation?
“No. No,’’ Kerr replied. “This is the NBA. These guys are either under contract or they’re upcoming free agents. It’s the business. We’re focused on this year. I don’t think anybody in our locker room, anybody on our coaching staff, thinks twice about Kevin’s free agency this summer.”
One player, who requested anonymity, said Tuesday that early news reports on the incident captured only “25 percent” of how bad the war of words actually was. But the player added that even though the Green-Durant relationship has its share of friction, team expects this fight to blow over because the two enjoy a genuinely tight friendship.
Myers, in explaining the Green-Durant dynamic, said: “I think they have a lot in common. They both
love to win. They both love to play . ... But they’re competitive. It’s a relationship that wants to do great things together, and they have. I think they have a sound relationship, but one of the best things about sports is it’s emotional. Sometimes it becomes too emotional.”
The dustup between two of the most recogniz- able Warriors stemmed from the final possession of regulation against the Clippers. Green swooped in front of Durant to grab the rebound on a missed shot by the Clippers’ Lou Williams. Then he pushed the ball up court, even as Durant, one of the game’s best clutch shoot- ers, clapped his hands and called in vain for the ball.
As Green dribbled through traffic, and the final 5 seconds ticked off the clock, the ball squirted from his hands. The Warriors never got a shot off. During the blistering exchange that followed on the bench, Durant appeared to say: “Pass me the (expletive) ball.” As things escalated, other players, such as Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala and DeMarcus Cousins, played roles in trying to keep the peace.
In announcing the suspension, the Warriors took a curious tact in addressing the public feud between two All-Stars. Instead of saying that this was rarity — a blip on the radar screen — Kerr and Myers said infighting is a standard part of life in the NBA. Even on the “Strength in Numbers” Warriors.
“People may think that we’re a perfect place, but we’re not. We do our best like everybody else,’’ Myers said. “I think it’s what you do after these things that separates the good organizations . ... How you handle things after they happen is the most important thing.”
Kerr said: “When you play at a really high level, and you’re competitive, things happen. Every team that I’ve ever been on, things happen.”
Because Green plays with a maniacal passion, and because he finds motivations in slights both real and perceived, reporters asked Kerr and Myers how they thought the forward would react to this punishment from his bosses. Someone wondered whether Green might have to dial back some of the edginess that has made him such a driving force on three title teams.