The Milwaukee Bucks were leading by 23 points with just over five minutes left in the third quarter against Golden State when the game came to halt due to a verbal altercation between Warriors star Draymond Green and a fan. Green had the fan ejected by game officials after Curry made two free throws with 5:19 remaining.
“Some threatening stuff to my life,” Green said after the game. “So, you know. I was this close to really going back and diving all the way in, but kind of just went back and told the official. And when I told the official what he said, he said ‘oh he gotta get out of here.’ And he gotta get out of here.”
As for the fan’s removal, Bucks chief communication officer Barry Baum said, “It’s under the referee’s discretion. We’re investigating the situation and we’re conferring with the NBA.”
On Dec. 2, a Bucks fan was briefly removed from their seat after a verbal altercation with Los Angeles Lakers star Russell Westbrook. The day before that in Dallas, Green got into a verbal altercation with a fan that resulted in a $25,000 fine for Green. The Mavericks fan later matched the fine with donations to charities.
“It sucks that that was a part of any game or any arena in terms of fans crossing that line, leveraging proximity to the court and all that trying to say whatever and think they can get away with it,” Warriors star Stephen Curry said. “A distraction in terms of how long it took to handle the situation. Draymond showed composure in terms of; everybody knows what’s going on, making sure that guy got out of there.
“I’ve heard it’s happened a couple times here in terms of fans saying wild stuff. I know it’s happened around the league. You want there to be swift action around it. This is such a great game, such a great atmosphere no matter what arena you show up in, guys are showing up, giving everything they have to put on a show, provide that entertainment value.
“We know fans are paying their hard-earned money to come watch us play. There should be a respect factor just inherent in terms of you coming into these buildings and handling yourself appropriately.”
Curry made his third free throw to pull the Warriors to 85-65. The Bucks went on to win, 128-111.
Giannis Antetokounmpo said he was aware of some sort of conversation happening, but he said he did not hear specifics.
“I feel like it’s not worth it – we have the power and we’re in a position to just go to the referee and say that guy is bothering me, he’s talking bad about me or whatever the case might be and they’re immediately going to take action,” Antetokounmpo said. “It doesn’t matter if he said something or he didn’t say something, they’re going to take action and they’re going to kind of remove the fan from that situation and the player from that situation.
“I think the way it’s set up, it’s good.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Why Warriors’ Draymond Green got fan ejected from game in Milwaukee