Golden State Warriors Irked by Bucks’ Victory Celebration; See

The Milwaukee Bucks continued to be a true nemesis for the league’s defending champions.

Draymond Green had 16 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for his fourth triple-double this season.

Given Golden State’s anger at the Bucks’ celebration after the first game and the ill-tempered finish to the second, this has the makings of a great rivalry.

In other games, Tobias Harris and Nik Vucevic each scored 25 points as the Orlando Magic downed the Portland Trail Blazers 102-94, the Indiana Pacers beat the Brooklyn Nets 104-97, the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 97-88, the Phoenix Suns overcame the New Orleans Pelicans 104-88 and the Utah Jazz were 97-88 winners over the Denver Nuggets. They will conclude their four-game journey with a game at Phoenix on Sunday.

Milwaukee Bucks guard Michael Carter-Williams (5) reacts in front of Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) after a Bucks basket late in the fourth quarter at BMO Harris Bradley Center. When Green pushed his arm away, the Bucks’ Khris Middleton moved in and shoved him. If anybody should have acted with a little more grace coming out of the Bucks victory, it was the Warriors.

Asked whether that was what the altercation was mostly about, Green said, “Once again, I’m not going to go into what he said, what you think he may have said, he may have said or may not have said, but no man is going to touch my head. We’re trying to compete for a championship”.

“I don’t know what it is”.

Elsewhere, Detroit continued to show they are a threat in the Eastern Conference, getting home 147-144 in a remarkable quadruple overtime win over the Chicago. “When we take care of the ball and get after it on defense…”

This was Klay’s fifth career 40-point game. Over that time, Curry and Thompson combined for 56 points on just 24 shots attempted.

If Milwaukee is to sweep the Warriors in the season series, it will likely have to do so without leading scorer and rebounder Greg Monroe, who had 28 points and 11 rebounds in the 108-95 win against the Warriors. “They had no problem running and we couldn’t contain them”. “I mean we had 58 points”. “He was yelling at Steve, and Steve kind of leans over to us and says, ‘We’re good now”.

Head-touching and arguments about the relative classiness of discrete actions aside, the Bucks left Friday’s contest feeling much better than most clubs do after losing their third straight game to fall to 10-18 on the season.

The Bucks had seven players in double-figures, including Giannis Antetokounmpo, who chipped in with 20. “We thought at the time they could’ve won with a little more class, some of those guys, but I’d have been fired up, too”. Curry then got fouled on a 3-pointer and made all three free throws to tie the game at 100 at the midpoint of the quarter. “We were very public about the fact that we wanted to get revenge, but then we didn’t come out and play with that edge and that mentality”, Warriors interim coach Luke Walton said after watching his club fall behind by as many as 13 while allowing 70 points in the first half.

“Our guys turned it up in the second half”.