Draymond Green was ejected from Monday night’s game after throwing Phoenix Suns center Khaman Maluach to the floor and grabbing teammate-turned-peacemaker Dillon Brooks by the jersey during a third-quarter scuffle. The Golden State Warriors still beat the Suns 116-113.
The incident started when Maluach, a 7-foot-1 center, caught the ball in the paint and tried to establish position as Green ran back on defense. Green fell to the ground, got back up as Maluach went for a layup, then wrapped his arms around Maluach’s waist and threw him down.
Brooks rushed over and put a hand on Green to pull him away from Maluach. Green responded by grabbing Brooks’ jersey before being pulled back to the sideline. Officials hit Green with two straight technical fouls, triggering his first ejection of the season.
Golden State trailed 67-57 with 10 minutes left in the third quarter at the time of the ejection, then rallied to win the game.
Brooks said afterward he was only trying to calm things down.
“I was just trying to deescalate the whole thing,” Brooks said. “He did a lot there, fell down, and pushed him at the end of it. I was just trying to deescalate it. He was just tweaking all game. So let it be.”
Warriors guard Brandon Podziemski said the dustup actually sparked his team.
“We didn’t have that edge to us to start the game,” Podziemski said. “Found it a little bit in the second quarter and then they came out in the third quarter pretty well and then that kind of changed the game for us. Everybody locked in a little bit more and came together for Dray. I think it was needed. Maybe he sensed it, maybe he didn’t, but it helped us.”
Maluach, the player Green threw to the ground, downplayed the whole thing.
“I think it’s just a basketball play, he’s just out there playing basketball,” Maluach said. “Nothing against Draymond, he’s just playing basketball out there.”
Green, a 15-year veteran and four-time All-Star, now has 179 technical fouls and 23 ejections for his career. The latest technicals bring his total to three in just eight games this season.
