There was no lost love between Draymond Green and Karl-Anthony Towns on the court. Green made that point clear with a Stephen Curry patented “Night Night” celebration in the Golden State Warriors’ 97-94 win over the New York Knicks.
It was a highly anticipated meeting. Earlier this month, Green gave a small apology to Towns after facing backlash for suggesting that Towns ducked the Warriors-Knicks first match because of Jimmy Butler. So, with all this off-the-court chatter, this game was bound to have extraneous emotions attached to it.
Towns started strong in the first quarter with 11 points and five rebounds, going 5-of-7 from the field. With Green matched up as his primary defender, KAT was active in attacking the undersized Golden State defense. When asked by ESPN’s Lisa Salters about listening to negativity directed toward him, Towns declined to acknowledge Green’s comments from earlier this week.
But Green is rarely the one to back down from a heated situation. After forcing Towns into an out-of-bounds turnover, Green turned to the camera and said, “He’s soft.” Later, when he drew Towns’ third foul, Green immediately pointed to the Knicks bench, signaling to the big man too, as ESPN’s Doris Burke interpreted, “Go sit down on the bench.”
Antics-wise, things settled in the second half. Towns stayed aggressive on the offensive end, bruising the Dubs for 29 points and 12 rebounds on 57.1 percent from the field.
But Green also came up clutch for his team with his offense. He notched two clutch free throws to give the Warriors a four-point lead with 1:06 left in the fourth. Green then iced the game with the blow-by-drive on Towns, which induced a ‘Night Night’ celebration from the former defensive player of the year.
Warriors guards led Golden State to seventh-straight win
In his post-game interview with Salters on ESPN, Green had nothing but praise for Towns and the Knicks’ hard-fought game.
“Karl had a great game, and [the Knicks] followed his charge. OG played great. Mikal played great. A Tom Thibodeau-coached team always plays hard,” Green lauded. “[Towns] had everything going inside. He had a couple of post-ups, got a couple of offensive rebounds, and put-backs. He missed a couple of jumpers, and I think I got away with a couple, but thank god he missed them.”
Curry, on the other hand, did not miss a couple of jumpers. After notching the 4,000 3-pointers made career milestone, it was business as usual for Stephen Curry. He went on a classic third-quarter Curry flurry, collecting 12 points to give the Warriors some breathing room against a gritty Knicks’ defense. The two-time MVP finished with 28 points, seven rebounds, and five assists.
A big fourth quarter from Moses Moody helped the Dubs fend off the Knicks in a grimy, low-scoring affair. With 18 points and two steals, Moody was huge for Golden State on both ends. The 22-year-old hit a go-ahead layup to put the Warriors up 90-88 with 2:26 left in the game. He then forced a deflection on a side out of bounds, setting Green up for his game-sealing layup. Green praised Moody’s leap in his postgame press conference.
“I think [Moody’s] attention to detail is way greater than what it was,” Green said. “I heard him say one of the most mature things: ‘I could have developed in college, I chose to develop in the NBA. So this is my path.’ You can’t get that from a lot of young guys these days. Everyone thinks it’s supposed to be their turn when they arrive. That’s just not how it works… He’s gotten his opportunity, and it’s not going anywhere; he’s here to stay. And he earned it. When you earn it, it feels a lot better when you go through something to get something.”
Moody was +10 plus/minus in the Warriors’ three-point win. The Dubs will need a lot more of that as they try to stay afloat in a crowded Western Conference playoff picture.
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