Bickerstaff proud Cavaliers stood up to Draymond, Warriors originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The Warriors began the second half of their 118-110 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday at Chase Center in a deep hole, and Draymond Green tried to dig his team out.
But the walls ended up caving in on an overzealous Green.
Already in possession of one technical foul, Green’s third-quarter antics led to a second technical foul and an ultimate ejection.
Green attempted to light a fire under the Warriors in the third quarter. First he drew an offensive foul on Cavs center Jarrett Allen and let him hear it all the way back down the court. Then he picked Donovan Mitchell’s pocket and drew a foul on the All-Star guard when they fought for the loose ball.
But Green went too far when he bumped Mitchell out of bounds on a Caris LeVert layup. Mitchell didn’t take kindly to that, charging at Green as they ran back down the court.
A lengthy replay review resulted in the officials assessing a retroactive technical to Green for the shoulder bump to Mitchell prior to the retaliation.
Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff loved what he saw from his players.
“It’s our guys standing up for themselves and protecting themselves,” Bickerstaff told reporters after the game. “There was a play before where Donovan was hit in the back, and again, we talked about it, we’re not going to back down from anybody. So I’m proud of our guys for standing up for themselves, but then again, not letting it turn the tide of the game and getting caught up in something we didn’t need to be caught up in and allowing them to go on a run.
“But that was premeditated to kind of get their team rallied. You felt that building the entire third quarter. I thought it could have been nipped in the bud a little bit earlier but it is what it is and we move on.”
LeVert, who scored as Green bumped Mitchell out of bounds, told reporters he didn’t see everything that transpired, but was pleased with how his team responded.
The Warriors trailed by 16 entering the third quarter, but won the period 31-16, cutting the Cavs’ lead to one point entering the fourth.
“Everyone on the court is super competitive, so it was a lot of barking back and forth,” LeVert told reporters. “I don’t know if we handled it the right way at first. They kind of went on a run after that. But we settled ourselves down. We got back to what we were doing, and I think that’s what I was most proud of. In the fourth quarter, we rallied back and we were doing what we were doing earlier in the game. Third quarter, we kind of got caught up in it a little bit and let them make a run.”
Any momentum Green created in the third quarter was lost in the fourth quarter as the Cavaliers pulled away for their second win over the Warriors in a week.
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