OAKLAND -- Draymond Green plays with a raw emotion that feeds the Golden State Warriors. He also dances on the razor thin edge between reckless abandon and completely out of control.
The Warriors are used to seeing both sides of their talented power forward and so is a national television audience. On Tuesday evening, Green mixed it up with both Anthony Davis and Rajon Rondo at different points of the game.
Going into halftime, Green and Rondo had a verbal altercation before the teams left the floor. The conversation was caught on camera and TNT analyst Charles Barkley had a few thoughts on Green’s antics.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
“I just want someone to punch him in the face,” Barkley said during halftime. “I really do. I just want someone to punch him in the face.”
“I’m just telling you, I want to punch his ass in the face, I really do,” Barkley continued.
Barkley, a known instigator as a player, probably would have had plenty of confrontations with Green if they played during the same era.
During his post game interview, Green was asked about Barkley’s comments and in typical fashion, he came out swinging.
Golden State Warriors
“He’s seen me a million times, if you feel that strongly about it, then punch me in my face when you see me,” Green responded. “If you’re not going to punch me in the face when you see me, then shut up.”
“It’s no different than someone sitting behind a computer screen tweeting, ‘I’ll knock you out’ and you never see it in real life,” Green continued. “Well, he’s seen me a bunch of times and he’ll see me again this year. Punch me in the face when you see me or no one cares when what you would have done. You old and it is what it is. If you ain’t going to punch me when you see me then stop talking about it, period.”
Green followed up his rant by both literally and figuratively dropping the mic.
In addition to drawing the ire of Barkley, Green also scored 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting while chipping in 12 assists and nine rebounds in the Warriors 121-116 win. He was a catalyst in the victory as Golden State took a 2-0 lead in the series and improved to 6-1 in the 2017-18 playoffs.