Warriors’ Green pulls self from game after altercation with Kerr

SAN FRANCISCO — Warriors forward Draymond Green had a heated exchange with coach Steve Kerr in the huddle during a third-quarter timeout Monday night and then went to the locker room on his own to cool down.

Kerr said even once Green returned to the bench for the finish of Golden State’s 120-97 win against the Orlando Magic he wasn’t going to play again after what happened.

“We got into it obviously and I took the timeout just because I thought we lost our focus there a little bit,” Kerr said. “We had it out a little bit and he made his decision to go back to the locker room to cool off and that’s all I’m going to say about it. Everything is private. I’ve got nothing further to add.”

Green contributed nine points and seven rebounds in nearly 18 minutes after being ejected early in the second quarter Saturday against Phoenix for consecutive technicals.

“Tempers spilled over and I just thought it was best that I get out of there,” Green said. “I don’t think there was a situation where it was going to get better so it was just best to remove myself. That’s it.”

Green said he was available to play again but it wasn’t his decision — and he had stiffened up by then, too.

“I thought I owed it to my teammates to be there. I’m not going to quit on my teammates,” he said.

Golden State’s 15-15 record is hardly what this group expected at this stage, and Green noted “that’s probably why tempers are flaring.”

“Basketball, it’s what we do,” he said of what caused the frustration. “We play basketball, it’s an emotional game. People lose their emotions sometimes, it happens.”

He said of leaving for the locker room, “I just thought that was best for me” and afterward he felt a responsibility to speak with the media “for sure.” Assistant coach Anthony Vereen accompanied Green.

Stephen Curry said his observation was Kerr and Green “just having a good conversation.”

“That’s kind of for them to talk about, not me,” the star guard said.

Curry said there were positive, winning vibes in the locker room after a nice win and “I’m pretty sure we know how to be professional.”

Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski said Green “was a great teammate on the bench” after coming back.

“It’ll get figured out,” Podziemski said.

Asked if he thinks the issue will linger, Kerr said: “No.”

“The group’s ready to go, you could see in the game tonight,” he explained. “We need Draymond. He’s a champion. We’ve been together for a long time. All we can do is the rest of the group keep pushing, keep getting better. I thought this was one of our better games. I thought the first half was brilliant — we just didn’t make shots. I thought Draymond played great.”