There were no points on the board yet when all of this mayhem erupted during last night's Golden State Warriors vs. Minnesota Timberwolves rematch. Just two minutes had passed when Klay Thompson got tangled up with Jaden McDaniels in transition. There was a chorus of whistles. Jerseys were ripped. Draymond Green, Jaden McDaniels, and Klay Thompson were all ejected.
Via ClutchPoints:
Although Klay rarely gets into these scuffles, Draymond Green often spats with opposing players. With that said, witnessing Draymond Green drag a 7-foot-1 Rudy Gobert off of Klay Thompson by the neck is something I never thought I'd see on a basketball court. Because of this, NBA Twitter was awash with excitement and memes.
My personal favorite, via DragonflyJonez on Twitter:
But he wasn't the only one getting some jokes off and having fun with the shenanigans.
Here's what Gobert had to say about the ordeal after the game.
Coach Kerr came to both of his players defense after the game. Kerr said, There's no way Klay Thompson should've been thrown out of the game." Kerr continued, "The Draymond piece of it, if you watch the replay, Rudy had his hands on Klays neck and that's why Draymond went after Rudy."
Twitter user JohnBrisker2021 put together a nice slow motion edit, where you can see Gobert making definite contact with Thompson's neck. However, was this malicious? It seems Gobert came to McDaniels' defense just as Green came to Thompson's. Gobert even said after the game that he kept his hands up the whole time in order to show the officials that he wasn't trying to escalate the situation.
Via JohnBrisker2021:
After the game, Karl Anthony Towns said:
"Shoutout to the Minnesota Wild, it was like a hockey game to start the game. But, we just found a way to stay composed. It was a mature win. They tried to rattle us. They tried to get us off our game. We did a great job of sticking to our game plan throughout the game and found a way to win."
Remember, this was a revenge game for Golden State, who have now lost four straight games, including three at home and two back-to-back against the Timberwolves. As a side note, Minnesota has won seven straight games, their longest win streak since 2004.
