Green — wearing a pair of sunglasses indoors — greeted his teammates at the front of the visitors tunnel following a furious final minute that saw two missed free throws from Klay Thompson, a jump ball and a missed Ja Morant runner to win it at the horn. Those greetings culminated with Steph Curry, who was swallowed up by a massive Green hug after Curry wrapped his nationally televised post-game interview.
The whole scene was a rarity — you don’t normally see ejected players embracing teammates at the visitor’s tunnel, likely because it may actually violate an NBA rule. “A player, coach or assistant coach who is ejected may only remain in the dressing room of his team during the remainder of the game, or leave the building,” reads Rule No. 3 of the NBA rule book. Luckily for Green, the ensuing penalty won’t put too much of a dent in his bank account: “A violation of this rule shall call for an automatic fine of $2000.”
Green — who taunted Memphis fans following the ejection — couldn’t be contained by a dressing room, and for good reason.
“You told me! You f—king told me!” Green yelled while embracing Curry in the tunnel. “God damn it, you told me!”
What Curry presumably told him is that the Warriors would win and steal home court advantage just one game into the Western Conference semifinals. Which is exactly what they did.
Thompson’s go-ahead 3-pointer with 36 seconds left was the difference in the end. The Warriors responded to an absurd first-half ejection of Green, who just one game earlier against the Nuggets tried a WWE-style wrestling takedown of Aaron Gordon’s legs and wasn’t even whistled for a foul. Jordan Poole came up huge off the bench for the Warriors, scoring a career playoff-high 31 points on 12-of-20 shooting (and 5-of-10 from deep), playing a team-high 38 minutes.
