Draymond Green Ejected After Consecutive Technical Fouls in 116-113 Win

Golden State Warriors center Draymond Green was removed from the floor with two minutes remaining in the third quarter of Monday night's game against the Phoenix Suns. The ejection followed back-to-back technical fouls assessed to him during a single sequence of play. Despite his early departure, the Warriors secured a 116-113 win over the Suns.

The incident began in the paint when Suns center Khaman Maluach pushed Green to the ground. Green rose from the floor, wrapped his arms around Maluach, and threw him back down. Guard Dillon Brooks ran to the center of the action and approached Green, leading to a physical exchange where both players shoved each other. Green placed a hand on Brooks' neck, prompting the officials to call technical fouls on both men. The second technical resulted in Green's ejection.

Brooks defended his involvement in the scuffle, stating he was attempting to calm the situation. "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."

A second flare of tempers occurred with 7:26 left on the clock. Players from both teams pushed and shoved, requiring security personnel to intervene. Miles Bridges received a technical foul after running to the baseline and pushing Warriors forward Charles Bassey. Bridges noted that Bassey had his arms around Jalen Green's head during a rebound battle. "That was a dumb time to get a technical," Bridges said. "It would've been able to tie the game up. But it's a physical game, a lot of emotions, a lot of missed calls, a lot of calls that were called that shouldn't have been called."

Golden State players credited Green's intensity with altering their performance in the third quarter. Stephen Curry stated, "He lit a fire in all of us and we had to respond, so I'm glad we did." Brandin Podziemski added that the team lacked edge at the start but locked in after the incident. "It helped us," Podziemski said. "Everybody locked in a little bit more and came together for Dray."

This is Green's first ejection of the current season and the 23rd of his career. He has accumulated 182 career technical fouls, with three occurring this year. Maluach characterized the play as standard basketball activity. "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."