Green leaves bench during Warriors’ victory after feud with coach Kerr

SAN FRANCISCO: Draymond Green left the bench during a Golden State Warriors victory over the Orlando Magic after engaging in an animated spat with coach Steve Kerr.

Green and Kerr were involved in a heated exchange during a timeout in the third quarter of the match, which they won by 120-97 in San Francisco. The veteran forward contributed nine points and seven rebounds in 17:46 of action. Green said that things got heated up, and he thought moving from there would be better.

“Tempers spilled over,” Green told reporters. “I just thought it was best that I got out of there. I don’t think it was a situation where it wasn’t going to get better. It was just best to remove myself. That’s it.” When he was asked about the cause of the spat, Green said “basketball,”. He also said “people lose their emotions sometimes,” but did not elaborate. He is hopeful that the Warriors will move on and that his relationship with Kerr to be “all right.” The Warriors were down 71-66 about 3:29 into the third quarter when Kerr decided to call a timeout. The Warriors coach sat in a chair, facing players, before getting involved in a verbal exchange with Green. The Warriors forward eventually stood up and left the bench area for a Chase Center tunnel and into the locker room.

Brandin Podziemski replaced Green in the Warriors lineup. Kerr also explained the incident that happened between him and Green. “We got into it obviously,” Kerr said of his interaction with Green. “I took the timeout because I felt like we lost our focus a little bit.

“We had it out a little bit and he made his decision to go back to the locker room to cool off. That’s all I’m going to say about it. Everything is private.” Kerr said he does not expect the rift to linger. “We need Draymond,” Kerr said. “He’s a champion. We’ve been together for a long time. All we can do, the rest of the group, is keep pushing, keep getting better.” Web Desk