NBA: 3 players ejected from a brawl after Warriors’ Draymond Green puts Timberwolves’ Rudy Gobert in a chokehold
- Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors and Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels start the brawl after grabbing each other’s jerseys
- Green, Thompson and McDaniels are all ejected from the game less than two minutes in
A full out brawl occurred less than two minutes into a game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Golden State Warriors, where Draymond Green put Timberwolves’ centre Rudy Gobert in a chokehold.
The Timberwolves’ 104-101 win on Tuesday was not only second in three days against the Warriors, but also improved them to 2-0 in the West Group C of the NBA’s in-season tournament. Golden State fell to 1-1.
The scuffle occurred just 1:43 into the game, when Warriors star Klay Thompson and Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels grabbed a hold of each other’s jersey on their way down the court after Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards missed a 3-pointer.
Timberwolves centre Rudy Gobert was one of the first to separate the two, but in doing so, prompted the 6 and a half foot tall Green to retaliate by placing Gobert in a headlock.
Shortly thereafter, the referees, after conferring with the NBA review officials in New Jersey, decided to eject Thompson, McDaniels and Green, who had also been ejected just two days prior in a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The incident went viral on social media with many NBA fans condemning Green’s actions.
“Draymond always sucker punching or coming from behind. What a fake tough guy,” one person wrote on Twitter.
“Draymond does more fighting than playing basketball,” another commented.
The Warriors were already without star player Stephen Curry, who was nursing a sprained knee, but the additional loss of Green and Thompson did little to deter them, as they led 98-96 with 2:05 to go before Minnesota tightened the defensive clamps.
Golden State did not score again until just 2.1 seconds were left, a stretch during which Karl-Anthony Towns gave Minnesota the lead for good on a 3-pointer with 1:07 to go before Mike Conley sealed the win with his 3-pointer that gave the Wolves a 102-98 advantage in the final seconds.
Kyle Anderson, whose offensive rebound led to Towns’ late 3-pointer, iced Minnesota’s seventh straight win with two free throws with four seconds left.
