All seemed well after Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green and head coach Steve Kerr got into an argument during a timeout in the third quarter on Monday, which ended with the Warriors edging out the Orlando Magic 120-97.
Kerr acknowledged during Wednesday’s news conference that he was responsible for the dust that led to Green briefly leaving the bench, cooling off alone in the locker room, and then returning shortly before the start of the fourth quarter, even though he never took off to warm up.
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“Monday night was not my best moment, that’s when I needed to stay calm in the crowd, so I regret my actions in that exchange. I apologize to Dre. He apologized to me. We all apologize to the team.”
Green, who won four championships in 13 seasons with the Warriors, told reporters after Monday’s game that “tempers have exploded.”
“I just thought it was best to get out of there,” Green said. “I don’t think it’s going to get better, so it’s best to leave on my own.”
Green said the argument started over basketball.
“That’s what we do,” he said. “We play basketball. It’s an emotional game. People lose their temper sometimes and that happens. That’s just the way it is. We’ve been doing this for a long time. Sometimes you’re with people for a long time and there’s a level of comfort and that happens. We move on.”
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Reporters asked on Monday if that would continue, but Green denied that, saying they would “move on.”
“We’re going to move on, we’re OK,” Green said of the altercation with Kerr.
The Warriors currently sit at .500 after 30 games and rank eighth in the Western Conference. They have a Christmas Day game Thursday against the Dallas Mavericks and their rookie Cooper Flagg at Chase Center in San Francisco.
“I think we’re moving in the right direction,” Green told reporters on Monday. “Nobody’s happy about being 15-15. But I think we’re starting to figure out different things, the rotations, and who we are as a team, so I think it’s all starting to come together and we’re looking a lot better.”
This article originally appeared on USA Today: Steve Kerr apologizes for altercation with Draymond Green.
