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Draymond Green went at it again with Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic in their first meeting since the Golden State Warriors forward’s indefinite suspension.
Green broke his 10-game streak of a clean slate after picking up a technical foul after arguing for what he felt was a non-call on his layup in the third quarter of the Warriors’ 113-112 win over the Suns on February 10 at Chase Center.
“It’s sad,” Nurkic said. “He didn’t learn anything. It’s just a matter of time. He’s going to knock somebody else again. I take everything back, what I said. He doesn’t deserve a chance.”
Nurkic was at the receiving end of a smack from Green which led to the Warriors forward’s suspension which lasted 12 games. A remorseful Green returned after undergoing counseling during his suspension. Shortly after Green’s reinstatement, Nurkic wished the Warriors forward to succeed and was willing to bury the hatchet, saying he had “no bad feelings or any hate toward him.”
Green returned a changed man and bottled up his emotions for 10 games until facing Nurkic again.
There were no closed fists thrown this time. Only taunting words.
The two big men trash-talked each other with “too small” taunts in the third quarter.
“Just his antics,” Nurkic said of why he believed Green did not deserve a second chance. “Try to hit people. The stuff he shouldn’t do, but I don’t care. At the end of the day, he tried to play that way. No one is worried about him. They got the win tonight. We’ll see what happens in a few games.”
Green outplayed Nurkic with their back-and-forth and nearly threatened to steal the show. In the end, Stephen Curry stepped up to bury a game-winner with .0.7 seconds left to drown the steaming Green-Nurkic round 2.
Green flirted with a triple-double with 15 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists. Nurkic finished with 6 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists with 1 block.
Kevin Durant Resigned to Stephen Curry’s Greatness
Kevin Durant watched Curry, his former co-star at Golden State, beat him and the Suns with a game-winning 3 he knew was coming.
“We were this close to the steal but that’s the NBA,” Durant told reporters. “It’s a game of chance and that’s all [Curry] needs and he’s an all-time great — the greatest ever at his position, top five in the world, I mean top five ever. You give him a look like that for the game, he’s licking his chops. I still think we could’ve had that steal. It’s a tough play. Sometimes guys are just that great.”
Curry’s 27-footer in the thriller just came out naturally from him.
“It’s just muscle memory,” Curry told reporters afterward. “Just shoot it and you live with it and thankfully it worked out.”
It was Curry’s 10th game-winner in his career, adding another signature moment to his Hall of Fame ledger.
Bradley Beal’s ‘Horrible Gamble’
Suns guard Bradley Beal gambled and tried to go for the steal. But the Warriors executed with perfection starting from rookie Brandin Podziemski’s inbound pass to Green’s screen to give Curry the inch of space he needs.
“It was a horrible gamble,” Beal told reporters. “He’s the best to ever shoot it. So you know the result after that.”
With Beal out of Curry’s target sight, the Warriors superstar buried his 9th 3-pointer of the game. Curry led the Warriors in their fourth straight win with 30 points.
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