Warriors forward Draymond Green and Wizards guard Bradley Beal were ejected following an altercation late in the first half of Friday’s game at Oracle Arena.
Beal struck Green’s head from behind while grappling for position on a 3-point attempt by Kelly Oubre with 19 seconds remaining in the second quarter. The two clinched and toppled over the baseline as their teammates converged.
Both players were assessed with technicals and banished to the locker room. Green had been given a previous technical earlier in the game.
The Warriors capitalized on Beal’s absence, outscoring the Wizards by 17 in the second half en route to a 120-117 victory.
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do if someone hits you in the face twice,” Green told ESPN’s Chris Haynes after the incident. “Man, you’re taught as a kid not to allow that. What was I supposed to do? There’s a history with me and the NBA. That’s the only reason I can think of why I was ejected.”
Said Beal, “It was a scuffle. I’m not going to go into details about it. I’ll do that with the league tomorrow. We just got into it and things got out of hand and we both got ejected. I told my teammates I can’t put myself in a situation like that to leave them out there to battle out against a tough team without me out there.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he “wasn’t thrilled” with Green’s first technical foul, which came for barking at an official. He also noted that it wasn’t immediately clear if Green would have been ejected regardless.
Steve Kerr on the Draymond/Beal scrum from his view, also said he disagrees with Draymond's first T pic.twitter.com/oXIuvAwsyX
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) October 28, 2017
