A 50-point third quarter helped the Warriors pull ahead for good in a 123-113 win over the Clippers on Thursday night in their first game back from the NBA All-Star break. While the Warriors won comfortably, the two Western Conference contenders continued their rivalry with some chippy play and trash talk going back and forth.
At the center of all that was, unsurprisingly, Draymond Green. Green was hit with a technical in the third quarter after he got tangled with Blake Griffin well ahead of the play, sending both men to the ground. Green was whistled for a foul, which sent him into a tirade. Kevin Durant to pull him away from the refs as he complained about the call and then David West and assistant Mike Brown had to keep him away from coach Steve Kerr after he went off on Kerr on the bench.
Here's video of that Draymond Green technical via @gifdsports. Yells at Kerr at 46-second mark. pic.twitter.com/UBpDunFq04
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) February 24, 2017
During the fracas, Marv Albert and Chris Webber noted that Green had been talking to the Clippers bench, specifically Paul Pierce, in the first half. Webber thought he had heard Green tell Pierce that he isn’t Kobe and was “chasing a championship.” Whatever it was, it was enough to cause the veteran Clippers forward to take to Twitter after the game and fire a shot at Green and the Warriors.
73 wins and u thought u was gonna win a title that yr 😂😂😂3-1 lead oops
— Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) February 24, 2017
Not many players outside of the Cavaliers have joined in on the 3-1 lead jokes over the past year (LeBron had plenty of fun with it for his Halloween party), but Pierce came in hot at 2:00 a.m. PT after the game with the fire. The Warriors still can’t say much to retaliate to a 3-1 lead joke until the playoffs this year, but I’m not sure it’s in the best interest of the Clippers to poke the bears when a playoff series with the loaded Warriors could be on the horizon.
The only other question I have is which phone did Pierce send this tweet from.
