Steve Kerr is mad at Draymond Green, Dillon Brooks

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The The Golden State Warriors have provided a much needed one 119-116 beat the Phoenix Suns and ended a three-game losing streak. And they had to do it without Draymond Greenwho was ejected early in the second quarter after receiving back-to-back technical fouls for shoving Suns guard Colin Gillespie and subsequently arguing with officials.

The interaction between Gillespie and Green began around 10:45 a.m. after Green blocked the guard’s shot. The two exchanged words all the way down the court as Stephen Curry hit a 3-pointer, at which point Green went through Gillispie, drawing the initial technical foul from official Pat Fraher.

Green later mimicked Fraher’s technical foul sign and began yelling at the referee. Green followed Fraher to the scorer’s table, continuing to yell at the referee as Moses Moody tried to lead him away. This prompted the referee to hit Green with another technical, ending his night. About thirty seconds of real time passed between Green’s first and second technique.

“I thought he was weak,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr he said after the game. “Definitely deserved it. But he goes to the bench and yells something, and another technical — we just saw a guy on their team literally punch Steph in the stomach the other night. Premeditated, punch him in the stomach, and there’s no ejection for that. Two nights later, the refs were upset by some of Draimond’s words.

The guy Kerr was referring to was Suns wing Dillon Brooks, who has a well-documented history of opposing Golden State. In the Warriors-Suns game the night before, Brooks punched Curry in the stomach after a three-point attempt late in the fourth that sent the Dubs star to the ground writhing in pain.

The referees assessed Brooks with a flagrant foul, a penalty kick, but did not eject him from the game. The league upheld the decision, characterizing the flagrant as the correct call according to the official report for the final two minutes.

Kerr told reporters that the Warriors reached out to the league about Brooks’ actions. He declined to share what the league explained to them. But the NBA did not fine or suspend Brooks for his actions, which drew Kerr’s ire.

“How could you not be upset?” Kerr said. “This is the guy who broke Gary’s (Peyton II) elbow in the playoffs, committing one of the dirtiest plays I’ve ever seen. It’s not like there’s no record out there. It’s out there; they’re watching it. I don’t know what’s the point of repeating it if you’re not going to punch some guy to punch some liter.”

“It’s bizarre to me that he wasn’t ejected for that in the first place and then suspended or fined. Nothing? Nothing? So, obviously, now you’re allowed – this is my position – you’re allowed to premeditate the shot of any unguarded shooter. Now you can swing at him and only get a flagrant.”

How the Warriors won without Draymond Green

Curry said Green’s ejection “woke them up,” when they faced the sudden reality of their defensive anchor late in the game.

“We knew without him we were going to have to play even tougher, dig deeper into the rotation,” Curry said.

Deeper in the rotation is rookie Will Richard, who hasn’t seen the floor in the last three games while Kerr has been tinkering with the rotation. Richard finished with 20 points off the bench on 6-of-7 shooting and a perfect 4-of-4 from distance. He took minutes from Buddy Hield, whose offense has been quiet of late, and gave the Dubs a much-needed spark off the bench.

And in the fourth quarter, the Warriors turned to their closers in Curry and Jimmy Butler. Curry scored 14 of his 28 points in the fourth, while Butler completed a timely And-1 to go up by 5 with 54.6 seconds left. Butler finished with 25 points, another aggressive offensive night after Kerr said they needed more than his scoring.

After a series of clutch misses, the Warriors secured a much-needed win and may have found it something in the process.

“Tonight we figured out what it takes to win,” Butler said. “And honestly, I think we were all on the same page in how badly we wanted to win this one after the Phoenix game. We came to a certain conclusion that we all have to be in this thing together. Win or lose, but we sure as hell know that nobody messes with 30.”

It’s only one win, but the turnaround this season has to start somewhere. With two games left in this game, the Warriors will be looking to build on the close win.