Draymond Green got into a bit of trouble early on Monday night at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
Despite his near-ejection, however, the Golden State Warriors are now just a single game away from knocking off the Houston Rockets and making it out of their opening-round playoff series.
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The Warriors pulled away late on Monday night to grab a 109-106 win over the Rockets in Game 4 of their series. That gave them a 3-1 lead heading into Wednesday’s Game 5 in Houston, where they can officially close out the series and reach the Western Conference semifinals.
The game, while it was the best of the series so far, was incredibly contentious — especially in the first half when Green got into back-to-back altercations that felt like they were a few games in the making.
The first popped off after Green and Stephen Curry got into it with Houston forward Dillon Brooks in the second quarter. After Green set a hard screen on Amen Thompson, Brooks hip-checked Curry and sent him to the floor. Curry, taunting a bit, threw up two fingers at Brooks after he was called for a foul. Brooks then tried to grab the ball out of Curry’s hands, which sparked the incident and sent plenty of people rushing in to break it up.
In the end, Curry, Green and Brooks were all hit with technical fouls.
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Then just a few minutes later, Green got into another altercation with Tari Eason. Green fell on top of Eason and drilled him directly in the head with his feet after they were fighting for a loose ball — which sparked another, though less severe, dust up. Green held on to Eason’s collar briefly and then looked like he was going to lift him up by the leg, but the two were separated successfully.
Green was assessed a flagrant foul there, which allowed him to avoid the automatic ejection. Eason was also given a technical foul.
The incidents were reminiscent of what happened in the wake of Game 3 on Saturday, when Green got into it with Rockets guard Jalen Green after the final buzzer sounded. Clearly, tensions from that game carried over a few days later.
“Steph [Curry] had a good game. The reason they won,” Jalen Green said on Saturday, via NBC Sports Bay Area. “Just talking. [Draymond] can’t really do much of anything else, so talking is his only way.”
Warriors put Rockets away late
After the chaotic first half, Houston took a seven-point lead into the locker room at halftime. The Warriors, though, erupted to start the second half. They opened the third quarter on an 18-1 run to take a 10-point lead almost instantly. The Rockets went 0-of-6 from the field as a team during that stretch, and hit only a single field goal after yet another chippy Green foul inside. Though Houston finally responded and tied the game up briefly, the Warriors held on to a two-point lead after the third.
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Finally, after it looked like the Rockets were going to take off, the Warriors closed the night out. They went on a quick 5-0 run capped by a massive contested 3-pointer from Buddy Hield, which put them back up on top.
Though Fred VanVleet tied the game back up down the stretch with a huge 3-pointer of his own, which was his eighth of the night, Jimmy Butler drew a foul on a 3-point attempt and hit all of his free throws to put the Warriors back out in front.
The Rockets had one last look at a shot, but Alperen Şengün’s jumper — which would have put Houston in the lead in the final seconds — was off the mark with Green in his face. Butler picked up the rebound, and hit a pair of free throws, to push Golden State to the three-point win.
Şengün led Houston with 31 points and 10 rebounds. VanVleet added 26 points and six assists after he shot 8-of-12 from behind the arc, and Thompson had 17 point and nine rebounds. VanVleet accounted for all but three of the Rockets’ 3-pointers, and Houston went just 19-of-31 from the free throw line as a team.
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Butler, who was questionable coming into the game with a pelvic contusion that knocked him out for Game 3 of the series, led the Warriors with 27 points and six assists. He had 14 of his points in the fourth quarter alone, too. Brandin Podziemski added 26 points, and Stephen Curry finished with 17 points, three assists and three rebounds.
The series will now return to Houston, where the Warriors hold the advantage and are now poised to end the Rockets’ season. And, though he nearly fouled out and got himself tossed from the contest, Green got the last laugh over the Rockets.
Based on how things have gone so far between the two teams, Wednesday’s matchup is sure to be just as contentious, if not more.
