Draymond Green on the questionable flagrant, the “Draymond rule”, the Steve Kerr ejection, the Klay-Collins beef: “I enjoyed that. (Klay) was talking bad to that dude.” pic.twitter.com/sp7vNUrV9n
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) February 14, 2019
By the game’s final minutes, the score was an afterthought. The spat between Trailblazers center Zach Collins and the Warriors was way more entertaining.
During the fourth quarter of Golden State’s 127-109 loss Wednesday night, Klay Thompson was called for an offensive foul on Collins. As both players walked to the other end of the court, Thompson appeared to say something while the Blazers center tried to hype up the crowd. That’s when Collins had some choice words for Thompson. The two continued to trade barbs before being issued double-technical fouls.
Klay was not happy with Collins pic.twitter.com/e5jrlnnpXz
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) February 14, 2019
As the game’s end neared, Thompson and Kevin Durant kept going at Collins on the bench.
KD, Draymond, and Klay are still trash talking Zach Collins from the bench ??
Lip read what KD and Klay said ???#Warriors #Dubnation #NBA #RipCity pic.twitter.com/uEkAdfxh3W
— deх (вall dnт lιe)? (@balldntlie) February 14, 2019
After the game, Draymond Green, master trash talker, spoke to the media and was, as you would expect, just delighted to see Thompson go back and forth with Collins.
“That may have happened before, but very rarely,” Green told reporters.” That may be the second time. But I enjoyed that, too. That was really good. He was talking bad to that dude. That was good to see.”
Here’s a classic case: young player feeds off the home crowd, gets too emotional, and mouths off to the wrong guy. Collins is a second-year role player with career averages of 5.5 points and 3.8 rebounds. Thompson is a five-time All-Star.
Maybe Collins was just pestering because he feels he has to. Green can relate.
“It’s all good, though,” Green said. “That’s his job, I guess.”