For a player who calls Oracle Arena home, Draymond Green sure gets forcibly removed from it often. The Warriors’ least favorite tradition continued Friday, as both Green and Bradley Beal were ejected for a scuffle before halftime of the Warriors’ 120-117 win over the Wizards. However, the fallout doesn’t really capture how tense the situation became:
Green boxed out Beal for a rebound off a Kelly Oubre Jr. 3-point attempt with 21 seconds remaining and the Warriors down 64-50. Beal’s arm made contact with Green’s face, Beal put Draymond in a headlock, and the Golden State forward fell on top of the 6-foot-5, 200-pound guard near the baseline.
Oubre jumped in (as he’s becoming increasingly known to do), accidentally punched teammate John Wall, and the fight escalated into a big scrum before you could say, “The Warriors are 3-for-23 from the perimeter tonight!”
Green was heated long before Beal’s palm was in his face. The Warriors’ performance was ghastly: They started 1-for-17 from deep and ended the half at just 15.4 percent. Washington, meanwhile, thrived at the 3-point line, hitting 60 percent of its 21 attempts before the break.
But for all the Warriors’ frustration and Draymond’s affection for technical fouls, this one appears to have not been started by him:
But it ended the way it usually does: with one of the Warriors’ most crucial players walking out the door.