Draymond Green Was Ejected With the Warriors Down Nine: They Won by Three

Draymond Green was ejected in the third quarter of the Warriors' 116-113 win over the Phoenix Suns on Monday after throwing Suns centre Khaman Maluach to the floor and then scuffling with Dillon Brooks. Golden State trailed 71-62 when he left. Stephen Curry scored 34 and they won anyway.

The ejection is the clip. The scoreboard is the story.

What happened

It began as an intentional foul. Green wrapped up Maluach, the Suns centre, and took him to the floor. Officials called the foul, then added a technical for the manner of it.

What turned it into a scuffle was Brooks. He and Green were teammates, and the two have a long and, by most accounts, fairly respectful rivalry. On Monday Brooks saw a teammate dumped on the floor and came straight into the pile, pushing Green. Green pushed back. Teammates, coaches and game officials had to pull the two apart.

Sports Illustrated and Larry Brown Sports both describe Green grabbing Brooks around the throat during the exchange; Yahoo's account describes a shove and a retaliation without that detail. Either way, both men were assessed technicals.

For Green it was his second of the night, and two technicals in an NBA game means automatic disqualification. He left with 4 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal from 17 minutes, and a plus-minus of minus six. It was his first ejection of the season. He had missed the Warriors' win over the Clippers the night before.

The part everyone will skip

Here is what happened after he walked.

Golden State had been comprehensively second-best for a half. Phoenix won the first quarter 31-19 and led by as many as 17. When Green was sent off the Warriors were down 71-62.

They then won the third quarter 42-36 and the fourth 23-20, and the game 116-113.

So the Warriors' best basketball of the night 65 points across the final quarter and a half, a 17-point deficit erased came with their emotional leader in the tunnel. That is not an argument that the ejection helped; a nine-point comeback over 22 minutes has a hundred causes and one of them is usually that the other team stopped making shots. But it is the fact that makes this more than a highlight clip, and it is checkable in the quarter-by-quarter line.

Curry, and the free throw line

The comeback had two engines.

Stephen Curry scored 34, on 9-of-21 from the field and 5-of-13 from three not an efficient shooting night but he went 11-of-12 from the free throw line, drew nine fouls, and finished plus-21, comfortably the best mark on the floor. He added six rebounds and seven assists.

Brandin Podziemski scored 20 on 7-of-15. Yaxel Lendeborg had 16, including 8-of-9 from the line.

That line matters more than it looks. Golden State shot 37 free throws to Phoenix's 30, and made 31 to 22 a nine-point edge from the line in a three-point game. Phoenix committed 30 fouls to the Warriors' 23, and Devin Booker fouled out having scored 26.

A game that turns on the free throw line in a contest with five technicals in it is not a coincidence. It was a chippy night and the chippiness cost Phoenix more than it cost Golden State.

Phoenix, who had this won

The Suns will not enjoy reviewing this one.

Booker's 26 came with six fouls and an early exit. Miles Bridges was arguably their best player 21 points on 7-of-14 with three threes, six rebounds and four steals and also picked up a technical. Brooks finished with 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists on 5-of-8 shooting, and a minus-13. Oso Ighodaro was perfect, 6-of-6 for 14 points.

Jalen Green had an unusual line: 11 points on 5-of-14, with eight rebounds, eight assists, two steals and two blocks a genuinely useful all-round game undercut by 1-of-6 from the free throw line. In a game decided by three, with his team losing the free throw battle by nine, five missed foul shots from one player is the kind of detail that gets remembered.

Phoenix also out-rebounded nobody of consequence, shot better from the field (47.1% to 42.9%) and better from three (36.7% to 31%), had more assists (28 to 23) and more steals (11 to 7). They lost anyway, from the line and in the last 22 minutes.

What happens next

Nothing automatic. A two-technical ejection is a disqualification for that game, not a suspension, and it is not the same thing as a flagrant foul, which is the category that triggers the league's accumulation system.

Whether the league office reviews the Maluach incident for an upgrade or a fine is not known and had not been announced. Anyone telling you a ban is coming is guessing.

Green is averaging 3.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 7.2 assists this season a line that reflects what he is now paid to do rather than any decline in importance to how Golden State plays. Suns head coach Jordan Ott, speaking about Green last season, put the case for him plainly: "We also can never doubt his drive, his intelligence, his ability to fit in every scenario possible," and said of his adaptability, "Provide value in whatever it is and continue to evolve."

Golden State host Miami next, on Thursday.