Draymond Green's 2nd Ejection Causes Reaction from Warriors' Steph Curry, Butler, Kerr
Golden State Warriors stars Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler and head coach Steve Kerr sounded off after Draymond Green earned an ejection in the second quarter of Saturday's 123-114 win over the Utah Jazz.
"I don't know what he said to the ref," Curry told reporters. "But I think, the consensus in the locker room was there wasn't enough to get thrown out."
Green received two technical fouls in quick succession. He argued with referee Simone Jelks after he thought a three-second violation wasn't called on Jazz forward Kyle Filipowski. That merited the first technical and the second came after he continued to plead his case.
The Warriors wound up rallying after Green's dismissal. They took the lead with a 42-point third quarter and didn't look back from there. Curry had a game-high 31 points, while Butler chipped in with 15 points and seven assists. Golden State's bench combined to score 46 points as well.
Neither Butler nor Kerr thought the turnaround reflected anything bigger regarding Green.
"We need Draymond," Kerr said. "I want him out there. We need him."
Butler echoed those remarks and said playing without Green "ain't the formula."
"No, no, no, no, no. We need '23' out there," he said.
Golden State is now 19-17 and eighth in the Western Conference. It sits 3.5 games back of the sixth-place Minnesota Timberwolves in the battle to avoid the play-in tournament.
In terms of net rating, the Warriors have been marginally worse without Green (plus-0.5) than with him (plus-1.5) on the court, per NBA.com. His contributions go beyond the box score since he's an emotional leader for the squad.
The four-time All-Star isn't the same two-way presence he was during Golden State's run of three titles over five straight NBA Finals runs. He nonetheless remains instrumental to the Warriors' hopes of lifting one more championship before Curry hangs it up.
