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Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert had some less than pleasant words for Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green after the latter was ejected for putting Gobert in a chokehold on Tuesday night.
Green and Gobert, neither of which are winning gold at the friend-making Olympics anytime soon, got into a physical altercation after a fight between teammates Klay Thompson and Jaden McDaniels.
Gobert seemed to try to de-escalate the incident. But Green immediately swept in and grabbed the Frenchman by the neck.
The Warriors and T-Wolves got into a scuffle in the first 1:43 of play.
Draymond Green put Rudy Gobert in a headlock.
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“It’s kind of funny because before the game, I was telling myself that Steph is not playing, so I know Draymond is going to try and get ejected,” Gobert said post-game. “Because every time Steph doesn’t play, he doesn’t want to play – it’s his guy Steph.
“He’ll do anything he can to get ejected…Clown behavior, and I’m proud of myself for being the bigger man again and again. And yeah, doesn’t even deserve me putting my hands on him. My team needed me tonight. I did whatever I could to keep my cool and then show that I wasn’t making the situation worse, and I do hope that the league is going to do what needs to be done because that’s just clown behavior. Not much to say. It’s clown behavior.”
Golden State began the season 6-2. Green credited the hot start to strong team chemistry in the Warriors locker room. But they’ve since lost four games in a row to drop to 6-6.
Minnesota, meanwhile, moved to 8-2 with the victory and sits second in NBA Western Conference.
Following the contest, Inside the NBA broke down the altercation. Which somehow ended with Shaquille O’Neal putting co-host Charles Barkley into a chokehold of his own.
Safe to say the jokes about this incident aren’t going to stop flowing anytime soon.