OAKLAND, Calif. — Draymond Green approached Kevin Durant near the end of Golden State’s bench and quickly their discussion escalated into a heated dispute, both players punctuating their points with demonstrations and reported F-bombs.
Green and Durant squabbled on the court late in the third quarter of Saturday’s overtime loss at Sacramento after a mix-up led to a shot-clock violation. Soon after, Green could be seen on video walking toward Durant and yelling from close range while raising his hands in the air.
Green then took a seat on the bench and Durant came over to continue their argument, with Shaun Livingston playing peacemaker. The flap wasn’t the first between the All-Stars, either.
Green wouldn’t say exactly what was at issue, just that “it was actually a tactic, but that’s for us to know and for everyone else to figure out.” ESPN reported Tuesday that Green was trying to use reverse psychology, goading Durant into elevating his performance … against the lowly Kings in Game No. 51 of a very long season with title aspirations.
“If you can’t [disagree], you’re probably on a losing team,” the fiery Green said. “But everybody who makes a big deal out of it probably are losers. That’s how I view it. Anyone who knows anything about winning knows that that’s going to happen.”
No worries about a family feud for the NBA’s top team.
“We know it’s really nothing. It’s constructive to try to understand how we’re going to get better,” Warriors star Stephen Curry said. “It comes from a place of respect between everybody on this team, including those two guys. So, nobody takes anything personal, nobody goes home and cries about it.
“Those kinds of conversations need to happen so that we continue to try to get better and challenge each other to not get complacent.”
Head coach Steve Kerr called the defeat one of his team’s worst games. The Warriors, with an NBA-best 43-8 record, host the Bulls on Wednesday night and will try to avoid consecutive regular-season losses for the first time since April 2015 during the franchise’s championship season.
“We had all kinds of arguments that game,” Kerr said. “Totally normal. You should have seen the Bulls back in the day, we had guys yelling at each other all the time. I equate it to if you have a lot of siblings and you’re in the house together every day and you love each other and you’d do anything for each other but you’re going to get in fights.”
“That’s what it’s like to be on a team. These guys are so close,” he said. “KD and Draymond are best of friends and they’re together every night laughing and joking. So when something happens on the floor, I don’t even bat an eye. It’s just competitive, heat-of-the-moment stuff. We played an awful game. I coached an awful game. It was a bad night for all of us.”