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Draymond Green #23 of the Golden State Warriors reacts after being fouled by Jusuf Nurkic #20 of the Phoenix Suns in the first quarter at Chase Center.
Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green fired back at Jusuf Nurkic after the Phoenix Suns center said he did not deserve a second chance.
“He tried to get in my head and it didn’t work,” Green told reporters after the Warriors 113-112 win over the Suns on February 10. “If he wants me to walk around quiet like him, I’m never gonna do that. Quiet guys don’t win. So yeah, I thought I was pretty great tonight. He can keep riding the same horse that he rode in on — he can ride his ass on out of here on the same horse. It ain’t working.”
It did not take long for the two big men to get at each other’s skin. They exchanged heated words in the first quarter.
“I didn’t take it anywhere,” Green said of their first quarter confrontation. “You know they call the foul on the post up and he started talking. I’m never backing down from that. I like that type of action.”
A moment later, Green drew an offensive foul from Nurkic and wildly celebrated with his finger pointing to his dome.
“I was saying he was the dummy when I was pointing to my head,” Green explained. “I wasn’t necessarily saying I was keeping my head. You can’t start talking and charging to me. That’s not smart.”
Draymond Green, Jusuf Nurkic Exchange ‘Too Small’ Taunting
Then in the third quarter, they had a “Too Small” taunting back-and-forth which Nurkic started.
“You can’t get bullied a couple plays later if you’re going to do that,” Green said of the exchange.
It was obvious to Green from the start that the Suns center would test his will in their first meeting since he smacked him which led to a 12-game suspension. Green was prepared.
“He was hitting me a lot today,” Green told reporters. “You should go back and watch the film just like key in on him and look at him. It was a lot of little cheap shots but I knew his goal was to get me out of the game. No one wants to see me in the game. That makes the game a lot tougher but I’m not it takes a pretty good [expletive] talker to to give me to do that. I mean that’s just too obvious so it’s okay. It was a fun game.”
Jusuf Nurkic Says Draymond Green Did Not Deserve ‘Second Chance’
Green outplayed Nurkic and his off-ball screen in the final play allowed Stephen Curry to get loose for the game-winning 3-pointer.
After the loss, Nurkic did not mince words and aimed directly at Green.
“It’s sad,” Nurkic told reporters. “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.”
“Just his antics. 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.”
Alder Almo is a basketball journalist covering the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors for Heavy. He has more than 15 years of experience in local and international media, including broadcast, print and digital. He previously covered the Knicks for Empire Sports Media and the NBA for Off the Glass. Alder is from the Philippines and is now based in Jersey City, New Jersey. More about Alder Almo
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