Draymond Green, Drake meet up at Toronto restaurant between NBA Finals games

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TORONTO -- The Cactus Club Cafe's downtown location sits just 1 kilometer from Scotiabank Arena, and features three levels of dining, paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol, and a popular patio rooftop deck.

It was there that Warriors forward Draymond Green, teammate Alfonzo McKinnie and an extended party stepped into a private room adjacent to that rooftop deck Friday night with a special guest: Rapper and Raptors superfan Drake.

Green and Drake -- born Aubrey Graham -- had a notable run-in during the Warriors' NBA Finals-opening loss to the Raptors on Thursday night. Seconds after Toronto secured its first Finals win in franchise history, the two shared words, with the rapper seemingly calling Green "trash" as the Warriors left the court.

After the game, Drake posted a video of he and Stephen Curry exchanging words on the sideline while the rapper touched Curry's hair, with the caption: "Steph Curry hair lint for sale on my eBay right now!!! username: DraymondShouldntWear23."

"We was talking s--t," Green told NBC Sports Bay Area on Saturday. "And we live in a day and age where people -- we live in a soft-ass world to where everything is a problem, and everything is a major issue. That’s the world we live in today, and so when someone sees people talking s--t to each other, it’s like, 'Oh my God, they hate each other,' but it's the typical overreaction into everything that's overreacted to in today's day in age."

Green and Drake have maintained a friendship for the past five years. In 2016, during the Warriors' record-breaking 73-win season, Drake name-dropped Green in his hit single, "Summer Sixteen." Two years ago, following a 127-121 Warriors win over the Raptors, Green was treated to an advance listen to "Free Smoke" from Drake's then-upcoming mixtape "More Life." Last season, as the Warriors geared up for a playoff run, Green wore a promotional jacket for Drake's fifth studio album, "Scorpion."

Hours before their meal together Friday, Green sported a red Jordan/October's Very Own collab hoodie as an homage to the Toronto-born rapper.

Even while Drake is being criticized for his recent sideline antics, most notably for massaging Raptors coach Nick Nurse's shoulders during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals, Green has defended his friend.

[RELATED: Drake trolled Klay with the 'Hotline Bling' dance]

"I think so many people make a big deal out of it. It is what it is," Green said Friday. "He's a fan. He talks, and it gets more attention because he's Drake. So many people are complaining about it, like, 'You don't let any other fan do that.' Yeah, any other fan is just not Drake, so they probably shouldn't be able to do that. That's just kind of how the cookie crumbles.

"He's worked his ass off to be who he is," Green added. "I think we all know when you do that, you get more leash than others. I think there's so much talk, and the NBA needs to -- no, they don't. He worked to be who he is. You should get more leash. But I don't mind it. It's fun for me."

The parties went their separate ways around 8 p.m. Friday, with Drake ducking out a private exit and the back-to-back defending champions walking through the crowd and back on their quest to win Game 2 on Sunday night.

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