Draymond Green Praises Karl-Anthony Towns' 'Physical' Play in Warriors Win vs. Knicks

All eyes were on the matchup between Draymond Green and Karl-Anthony Towns during Saturday's game between the Golden State Warriors and New York Knicks, and the former had nothing but praise for the latter in the aftermath.

"It was good to see KAT show up and play like that," Green said after helping lead the Warriors to a 97-94 victory, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. "Physical. Probably the most physical I've seen him play."

As Bondy noted, the veteran recently drew headlines because he "spread a rumor on his podcast that Towns missed a game against the Warriors this month at MSG because he was ducking longtime nemesis Jimmy Butler."

The real reason Towns missed that contest was to attend the funeral of a close family friend. 

Green and Towns were separated at one point during Saturday's game after yelling at each other.

"I like battles," Green said. "I've never seen him willing to talk. So I enjoyed that. That was fun. He had a really good game."

Towns enjoyed the advantage from a statistical perspective. The Knicks big man finished with 29 points, 12 rebounds and three assists on 12-of-21 shooting from the field and 3-of-5 shooting from deep. Green was the primary defender on him for much of the game, but it didn't seem to slow him down.

However, Green got the win and even broke out Curry's famous "night, night" celebration after making a key basket late in the game.

Green posted nine points, four rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block while going 3-of-9 from the floor and 1-of-5 from three-point range.

Golden State has been on fire since trading for Butler and extended its winning streak to seven with Saturday's victory. It has also won 12 of 13 and has moved up to sixth place in the Western Conference standings and within two games of the fifth-seeded Los Angeles Lakers.

New York is third in the East and won't play Green and the Warriors again this season unless they match up in the NBA Finals.