As expected, Draymond Green and Dillon Brooks were getting in each other’s faces during Thursday night’s Warriors-Grizzlies game in Memphis.
With 1:01 left in the first half, Green put his hand under Brooks’ chin and the ball close to to his face as they got tangled up. Brooks had just stolen a lazy inbounds pass from Steph Curry to Klay Thompson, and blew by Green on his way to the hoop.
Green definitely made contact with Brooks’ face, but referee Brent Barnaky was right there and didn’t enforce any fouls on either guy. Brooks has already been suspended with 16 technical fouls this season while Green has 15.
The two players have exchanged words through the media the past week, as Draymond dissected a recent Brooks comment to ESPN and clapped back on his latest podcast, calling him and "idiot" and a "clown." Jared Greenberg of TNT said he spoke to Brooks before the game and got his thoughts on Draymond’s latest comments.
“(Brooks) thought it was funny. Premeditated but funny,” Greenberg said. “He said that a bit tongue-in-cheek.”
The sequence came in the midst of an unraveling by the Warriors to end the first half. They clawed back from an early 20-point deficit to cut it to 4 points, but then the Grizzlies closed out on a 20-6 run before intermission. Golden State turned the ball over four straight times, including Brooks’ steal, as it lost its cool in Memphis.
At this point, Brooks is probably public enemy No. 1 for Warriors fans. Just a few minutes earlier, Brooks also stared down Curry after blocking his shot in the corner.
Though the Grizzlies are without Ja Morant, who is going to be out at least four games after broadcasting a video of himself with a gun on Instagram, and Steven Adams, who is out at least four more weeks with a knee injury, Memphis took a 77-59 lead into the locker room at the half.
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